


Among the Wild Things

by Mikauzoran



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is a little lost and depressed at the beginning, Adrien takes control of his destiny, Aged-Up (19 and 21), Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Better Parent Anarka Couffaine, Communication, Compromise, Eloping, Fae & Fairies, Fae Luka Couffaine, Fae society is queer-friendly, Finding a place you belong, Fluff, Growing Up, Happy Ending, Human society is homophobic, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Offscreen Sexual Content, It's briefly implied it's suicide offscreen, Julerose - Freeform, Kagaminette (Background), Kelpie Luka Couffaine, Kelpies, KimMaxAlixOndine (cameos), Light Angst, Luka quickly fixes that, M/M, Marigami (Background), Marriage, Offscreen Minor Character Death Gabriel and Émilie, Partnership, Prince Adrien Agreste, Self-Discovery, The fae have Parliament, The humans have a monarchy, lukadrien
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikauzoran/pseuds/Mikauzoran
Summary: Prince Adrien has always felt stifled and controlled, never free to be himself. Everything changes when he goes to the enchanted woods to escape his life and his problems and falls in love with a shape-shifting river spirit.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine
Comments: 107
Kudos: 104





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrincessBuggyCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessBuggyCat/gifts).



> Hi there! I'm Mikau. ^.^ If you're new, it's lovely to meet you. If you're not new, it's such a pleasure to see you again! Thank you very much for taking a look at this story! I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> (Shameless plug for my [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/). ^.^)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien falls in love with a kelpie.  
> Luka falls in love with a prince.

On the third day that the blonde boy visited the clearing in the enchanted wood, Luka’s curiosity won out.

“Are you planning on throwing yourself into that river, or are you just in love with your own reflection? You’re staring into the stream rather intently,” he spoke from the shadows and couldn’t contain an amused grin as the young man sat up on the bank with a jerk.

Adrien scanned his surroundings frantically, eyes searching the dim forest just beyond the edge of the oasis of light that was the clearing for the speaker. “Who…?” He swallowed hard. “Is-s-someone there?”

Luka had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold in a laugh. Mortals were kind of adorable when they were scared, and this one was quite attractive to start with. He intrigued Luka, so Luka had left him alone the previous two days and just watched as the young man stared into the river and sighed.

“Typically, there’s someone attached to the other end of the words,” Luka pointed out with a good-natured chuckle. “That’s the usual way…unless you often hear disembodied voices?”

Adrien gulped again, slowly getting to his feet and drawing the knife from his belt. “No, I can’t say that I do, but…I’ve heard that these woods are haunted.”

“If you knew, then why did you come here?” Luka hummed curiously, unable to figure the mortal boy out and fascinated because of it.

Adrien stiffened defensively, eyes narrowing as he raised his knife. “Show yourself!” he demanded, exuding bravado.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” Luka snickered.

The human boy was very, very cute when he pretended to be tough.

“As you say, these woods are haunted. Do you really want to know if you’ve been speaking with some dreadful monster?”

To his credit, Adrien didn’t back down. He swallowed his fear and declared once more, “Show yourself! I am Prince Adrien of the Kingdom of Agreste, and I order you to identify yourself.”

Luka frowned at the idiocy of the boy, shouting his true name for any pixie to pick it up and wreak havoc with it.

He gave a snort as he took the form of a young man and stepped out into the light. “It is unwise, Prince Adrien of the Kingdom of Agreste, to give your name so recklessly.”

Adrien’s eyes widened as a handsome man a few years older than Adrien appeared with hair as blue as the river and eyes like two, clear standing pools of water.

“If you’re not careful, someone might take it,” Luka warned.

Adrien gaped at the stranger, struggling to string together thoughts. He had never seen someone so ethereally beautiful before. He couldn’t breathe, and his heart was beating its way out of his chest.

Adrien dropped his knife. “Who are you?” he asked in awe.

Luka smiled kindly, pleased at the effect he’d produced. “You may call me ‘[Orpheus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus)’, Little Prince.”

“Orpheus,” Adrien repeated as if in trance.

Slowly, Luka approached, stopping about two meters off and taking a seat by the river. “It’s dangerous here, you know,” he informed matter-of-factly as he slipped off his boots and dangled his feet in the water, delighting at the surge of power it sent through his being.

Adrien bent to retrieve his knife and slipped it back into its sheath. “It doesn’t look dangerous. This forest is beautiful.” He slowly lowered himself back down to sit on the bank and gaze into the glass-like waters of the river, periodically sneaking glances at his mesmerizing companion.

“The most dangerous things are often very pleasing visually,” Luka informed, pretending not to see Adrien gawking at him.

He supposed it was only fair. Luka had spent the previous two afternoons gazing, enraptured, into Adrien’s breathtaking peridot eyes while Adrien peered into the stream, completely unaware of his audience.

“Deadly creatures often make themselves attractive to draw in their prey, lull them into a false sense of security.” He turned his head to smile disarmingly at Adrien.

Blushing at being caught staring, Adrien bashfully looked away. “What’s so dangerous about these woods?”

“For starters?” Luka scoffed. “This river. A [kelpie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelpie) lives here.”

Adrien frowned, looking back up at Luka. “Kelpie?”

Luka nodded, kicking his feet, splashing gently.

“What’s a kelpie?” Adrien inquired hesitantly, not wanting to look dumb in front of the attractive young man.

Luka frowned, looking at Adrien hard before answering, “They don’t teach their prince about the fair folk in your kingdom?”

Adrien’s face flushed a deep scarlet of embarrassment as he looked down into the water. “My father doesn’t believe in them. He says fairy stories are for children. My mother used to tell me about the fair folk, but she…died…a few years ago.”

The way he fumbled over the word made Luka suspect that the death had not been due to illness or accident.

Adrien cleared his throat and attempted to distract from the implications of his unnatural pause, rushing to get back on topic. “I know some things, but…I’m sorry. I don’t know what a kelpie is.”

Luka nodded slowly, admiring Adrien’s sad, self-conscious expression. “It’s okay. It sounds like your father is to blame for your ignorance, then. It’s not your fault…. And I’m sorry that you lost your mother.”

“…Thank you,” Adrien whispered, a brittle, vulnerable word but very much heartfelt.

It touched something in Luka, seeing how completely Adrien had lowered his guard.

He wasn’t like other humans Luka had met. There was no aura of deception and greed. Though grown, he was still like a child, still innocent and naïve.

It made Luka want to protect him.

“Kelpies are water spirits,” Luka patiently explained. “They usually appear as black horses, but they can take human form as well. They’re excellent singers.”

“Are they anything like sirens?” Adrien wondered, scooting in closer, intrigued by the story.

“A little,” Luka allowed, wiggling his hand, open palm down towards the ground. “Kelpies sometimes lure their victims in by singing.”

“Victims?” Adrien shifted uneasily.

Luka nodded. “Kelpies drown people.”

Adrien shifted his gaze nervously towards the water before looking back to Luka. “Do you think…?” He moved back away from the river and closer to Luka, eying the stream warily. “You don’t think they’re actually _real_ , do you?” he whispered, as if afraid of being overheard by creatures whose existence he doubted.

Luka chuckled softly as he closed the distance between them, coming within an arm’s reach as he clicked his tongue. “Oh, My Little Prince…kelpies are very real. Every bit as real as I am.”

Adrien gulped, reaching out to rest a nervous hand on Luka’s forearm.

The touch shot an electric jolt through Luka’s body, igniting warring hungers within him and leaving him torn about which to slake.

Adrien’s soft skin would be tender and delicious…but if Luka gave in to his stomach, there would be no way to satisfy the intense desire Adrien’s scent sparked within him.

It was best not to act now. After all, if Luka was patient, he could always decide to eat Adrien at a later date once he’d satisfied his lust.

Adrien, completely oblivious to the danger of his current situation and Luka’s intentions, tightened his grip on Luka’s arm, voice shaky as he inquired, “If a kelpie lives in that river, do you really think you should be kicking your feet in it like that?”

A thin smile spread across Luka’s lips, and he reached up to cup Adrien’s cheek, eyes suddenly dark like a storm at sea. “Sweet Little Prince,” he cooed, running his thumb along Adrien’s cheekbone and watching as the skin turned bright red. “I’m not the one in harm’s way,” he whispered.

Adrien’s breath hitched, and his pupils dilated wide as Luka leaned in and gave Adrien’s cheek a long, slow lick.

“ _You_ are.”

Luka couldn’t rationally explain what he did next.

Adrien was completely defenseless, and Luka could have done whatever he liked. He was master of the situation.

And yet, he thought about the beautiful, tragic-looking boy who had come to the clearing three days in a row now and sat by the bank of Luka’s river, staring into it—into Luka’s eyes—and sighing and crying.

Luka remembered the salty taste of Adrien’s tears as the stream assimilated them into its waters and carried them away, and Luka pulled back, releasing Adrien and slipping into the river, turning to water himself right before Adrien’s very eyes.

“These woods are dangerous, Little Prince,” his disembodied voice warned. “Tell your father that the fair folk are alive and well and not to wander too far into the forest. My kind are not usually as amicable as I’ve been.”

Adrien stared, trembling, at where Luka had been only moments before for ten full seconds before the peril he was in registered. When it finally did, he scrambled to his feet and ran, his heart pounding in his ears all the way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! What did you think of the first chapter? The first two are a little shorter than the others as I set up the story and background. But what did you think? Are you intrigued? Bored? Excited for more? Did you have a favourite part or a favourite line?
> 
> My grandparents babysat me a lot when I was little, and they used to tell me all kinds of fairy stories. I remember my favourites being about the water spirits and the trolls. I've always liked kelpies.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading. I'll see you again on Sunday, 01/03/2021. Be sure to let me know what you thought because I'm dying to know! I hope you enjoyed it. ^.^
> 
> Come follow me on [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/).
> 
> References:  
> Orpheus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus  
> Kelpie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelpie


	2. Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! ^o^ Happy New Year! We survived 2020! Huzzah! Here's hoping that 2021 is at least marginally better. ^.^;
> 
> Anyway. Thank you all so much for reading this work, commenting, leaving kudos, and bookmarking this story. I'm so glad that people are enjoying it. I was afraid no one was going to read it. ^.^;
> 
> And now, on to the second chapter.

“I’ve never seen you like this before,” Anarka noted as she wrangled her thick, blue-grey mane of hair into a braid.

“Like what?” Luka sighed, strumming aimlessly on his lyre.

“Moping like a lovesick fool,” Juleka supplied, swimming over to the kitchen of their home at the bottom of the lake that Anarka presided over deep in the enchanted forest. “Just ask him—her?—to go out with you. It’s not so hard.”

Luka snorted, grumbling, “Like it wasn’t hard for you to tell Rose about your feelings?”

Juleka bristled at the reminder of her disastrous confession to the [naiad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad), salvaged only by Rose intuiting what Juleka was trying to say, returning Juleka’s feelings, and taking the initiative to confess to Juleka instead, saving Juleka the trouble.

“Who is the lucky person?” Anarka pressed, coming to sit on the couch with Luka.

Luka shook his head with another sigh. “It’s…not like that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, honestly. There was just this mortal guy who came to my clearing last week, and I should have just eaten him, but…I didn’t.”

Anarka’s eyes narrowed as Juleka’s widened.

“I just watched him for an hour or two, and then he went away,” Luka continued. “But he came back the next day _and_ the one after that, and on the third day I talked to him, and he was so close, I could have just pulled him into the river…but I didn’t.” Luka shook his head again, still mystified at his own actions. “I didn’t. I let him go. I changed in front of him, scared him off, told him to stay out of the woods, and now he hasn’t been back in almost a week, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should have just eaten him,” Luka grumbled, plucking a sour note on his lyre in frustration.

Juleka winced, letting out a sympathetic hiss. “Yeah. That sounds pretty complicated. Sorry. Not touching that one. Maman?” She looked to their mother to field Luka’s dilemma.

Anarka frowned deeply, pursing her lips as she studied her boy. “Getting entangled with a mortal is never good, Luc. Trust me, I’ve had enough mortal lovers to know that it never ends well. They get old and sick, and they die on you, or else they want you to become mortal, and they get really huffy when you tell them no. It’s better if you just forget all about this boy and move on, Ma Baleine.”

Luka nodded listlessly. “It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again. He’s not coming back, and I’m not stupid enough to go looking for him.”

Though, the thought _had_ occurred to Luka. He didn’t think the castle guards would let him waltz right in to see the crown prince, and Adrien would probably be upset if Luka took out all of Adrien’s servants just because Luka had the strong urge to gaze into those sylvan green eyes once more.

Luka cursed under his breath as he remembered the salty-sweet taste of Adrien’s skin. “I shouldn’t have licked him.”

Juleka broke out into giggles at her brother’s expense. “Oh my gosh, Luc. You _licked_ him?”

The furrows in Anarka’s brow multiplied. “What exactly happened between you and this boy?”

“Nothing,” Luka groaned, getting to his feet. “I’m going to my bend in the river. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“You didn’t eat anything,” Anarka called after him in concern.

“I’m not hungry,” Luka informed without breaking stride, swimming for the exit out of their sunken ship and heading for his tributary.

Luka had never expected to see Adrien again, so to find the prince sitting on the riverbank, staring down into the water when Luka arrived was more than a little surprising.

He hesitated, trying to wrap his head around the immense joy he was feeling before deciding what course of action to take.

Perhaps it would be best to stay silent and just watch Adrien as he had done the first two days, but what if Adrien had come back specifically to see Luka? What if Luka didn’t show himself and Adrien gave up and never came back again?

He couldn’t risk it. He had to say something, make his presence known.

Not wanting to startle Adrien, Luka lightly cleared his throat to get his attention.

Adrien jumped, gaze flying around the clear in search of the source of the noise. “Orpheus?” he called apprehensively.

“I thought I told you these woods were dangerous, Little Prince,” Luka scolded with a playful lilt to his voice.

Adrien smiled sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck and shrugging. “Well, you didn’t drown me the first three times I was here, so I thought I’d press my luck.”

Gradually, Luka coalesced into human form from the waist up, silently rising out of the water to rest his elbows on the bank, only an arm’s reach away from Adrien.

“I’m not the only thing you need to be worried about,” Luka sighed.

Adrien gave a start, whipping around and freezing when he realized how close Luka had gotten without Adrien noticing.

He gulped, not daring to move. “What else do I need to be worried about?”

Luka shook his head slowly. “These woods are filled with my kind, and there are any number of beings who would hurt you, eat you, or worse. You shouldn’t have come back.”

“…And yet I did,” Adrien sighed, posture relaxing. “…Are you going to drown me today?”

Luka hummed thoughtfully, pillowing his arms on the riverbank and resting his chin on top. “Not sure yet.”

Adrien nodded, accepting Luka’s answer. “Okay.”

After a beat of silence during which they studied one another with open curiosity, Luka noted, “You’ve got tear stains on your cheeks. Why were you crying?”

“Because I was sad,” Adrien answered readily.

Luka frowned. “Why were you sad?”

Adrien shrugged. “A lot of little reasons. Mostly it’s stupid things that my father did or said. Like, today he was supposed to eat breakfast with me, but he didn’t show up, so I was just sitting in the empty banquet hall all by myself missing my mother and thinking about how my father thinks I’m useless, so…” Adrien shrugged again, trying to play it off as unimportant, but his eyes had begun to leak fresh tears.

Luka rose up to take Adrien’s face in his hands and wipe at the tears dutifully until they stopped falling. “I don’t think I like your father.”

“He’s…not the easiest man to like,” Adrien admitted. “But I love him, and I want him to love me, so…I keep trying to make him happy, to make him proud of me.”

Luka pursed his lips, reconsidering paying Adrien’s castle a visit. “Is he the reason why you were crying those other days you came here too?”

Adrien frowned in thought, trying to recall. “I honestly don’t remember what I was upset about last week. He was probably a part of it.”

“He doesn’t sound like a good parent,” Luka grumbled, sinking back down up to his chest in the river. “My mother can be harsh sometimes, but I can’t remember an instance where she’s made me cry.”

Adrien looked away with a shrug. “My father makes most people cry. He made my mother cry a lot.”

Luka let out a contemplative hum. “…I’m sorry. That must be very hard for you.”

“Thanks,” Adrien replied with a weak yet genuine smile.

“…So why did you come back here? I thought I was pretty clear about the risk…even if I did want to see you again,” Luka added, curious as to what effect his words would have, if any.

Adrien’s cheeks coloured, and his smile gained strength as he looked off to the side. “I don’t know. I just…feel at peace here. These woods, this clearing…they make me feel safe, so…” He chewed on his lip, hesitating before adding in a rush, “and I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Luka arched an eyebrow, trying not to give away how pleased he was that he had been driving Adrien every bit as crazy as Adrien had been making Luka. “So you were able to overlook the possibility that I might pull you into the river and drown you? Do you have a death wish?”

Adrien looked away again, his expression going cloudy. “No. I don’t _want_ to die,” he replied sedately, without the vehemence or conviction that Luka would have liked to have heard. “I just…sometimes being in danger doesn’t feel like a big deal. I don’t want to be dead, though.”

“You worry me,” Luka announced with a tired sigh, transforming the rest of the way and climbing out onto the bank beside Adrien.

Adrien watched him questioningly. “Uh…thanks?”

“Mmhm,” Luka replied, pulling his lyre out of the river. “You need to take better care of yourself. Lie down.”

Tentatively, Adrien did so, rolling over onto his side and gazing at Luka curiously.

“Take a nap,” Luka instructed, beginning to strum a calming melody. “I’ll keep watch and wake you in an hour.”

“…Thank you,” Adrien responded cautiously, not sure if he really trusted the kelpie, even if he did possess otherworldly beauty and made Adrien feel all kinds of things he’d never experienced before.

But then Luka started to sing, and all doubt and resistance fell away.

Peace and warmth washed over Adrien like gently lapping waves rising as the tide came in. His eyes slowly slipped closed, and he drifted off in minutes.

Luka kept playing for a while even after Adrien fell asleep.

He watched the young man completely helpless beside him, so tranquil and trusting. It would be so easy to drag him into the river and be done with it…but even though Luka had skipped breakfast, he didn’t really feel hungry as he gazed at Adrien.

He set his lyre aside and moved in closer, studying the contours of Adrien’s face, mentally tracing the lines of his eyes, his mouth, his nose, his cheek, and his jaw. He listened to the sound of Adrien breathing, took deep inhales of Adrien’s intoxicating scent.

When he was sure that Adrien was deep under the spell of slumber, he lay down next to the mortal and slowly inched forward until Adrien’s back pressed up against Luka’s front. Luka carefully wrapped his arm around Adrien and lightly rested his nose in Adrien’s messy blonde hair.

The combination of Adrien’s warmth, weight, and scent was indescribable, and Luka could easily see himself getting lost in this boy. He could barely contain a whinny of pleasure as Adrien shifted in his sleep, rolling over in Luka’s arms and pressing himself closer into Luka’s loose embrace.

Adrien sleepily blinked himself awake on his own about half an hour later, and Luka froze, fearing he’d overstepped his bounds. But Adrien smiled lazily, closing his eyes and setting his head back down on Luka’s chest, giving it a tired nuzzle.

“Are you going to drown me today?” he mumbled, the warmth of his breath sending shivers down Luka’s spine.

“Not today, Little Prince,” he somehow managed to find the presence of mind to reply.

“Okay. Good,” Adrien hummed, wrapping an arm around Luka and pulling him in tighter.

Adrien kept coming back.

Not every day (not at first, anyway), but at least half of them.

They talked about various things: little, inconsequential tidbits from their days, the small moments that made up their lives. Over two months, it slowly added up until Luka was pretty sure that Adrien knew him about as well as anyone.

Adrien still asked every time if Luka planned on drowning him, and every time Luka gave a coy, evasive answer.

Adrien didn’t need to know that the thought of anything happening to Adrien made Luka feel physically ill and that the prospect of eating Adrien had long ago started to make Luka’s stomach roil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I always have fun with the Couffaine clan. They'll show up more later.
> 
> Did you have a favourite part of the chapter or a favourite line? This chapter was a little on the short side again. Next chapter will be a little longer.
> 
> A note on translation: Anarka's nickname for Luka, "Ma Baleine", means “my whale”. Rose is Mon Raquin, “shark”, and Juleka is Mon Lamantin, “manatee”.
> 
> Thank you for reading, everyone. I'll see you again next Sunday, 01/10/2021. Until then, please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought because I'd love to know. ^.^ Take care, guys.
> 
> References:  
> Naiad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad


	3. Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They elope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! How are you doing today? I'm actually pretty well. This week was rough, but I'm feeling better now. My asthma and allergies have been acting up, so I've felt like rubbish most of the week. ^.^;
> 
> Tomorrow is an exciting day! It's my two-year anniversary of publishing my work in the Ladybug fandom. ^.^ Thank you to everyone who has supported me these past two years. <3 I can't tell you how grateful I've been for your love and encouragement.
> 
> Today's chapter is longer than the first two. Future chapters will be about this length or a little longer. There is no sexual content in this chapter (or in this work, actually), but it is implied that sexual content takes place offscreen after the chapter ends. I mean, this IS the chapter where they get married (for the first time), after all.
> 
> Enjoy!

“What did he do to you this time?” Luka growled as he rose up out of the river, stepping onto the bank and kneeling to pull Adrien into his arms.

Adrien shook his head. Or, at least, he tried, but it was a little difficult with Luka’s hands on his face, wiping away the tears. “It wasn’t exactly…” He bit his lip. “Orpheus, it’s so stupid. I—”

“—It’s not stupid if you’re upset,” Luka interrupted, demanding once again, “What did he do to you?”

“I have to get married,” Adrien blurted out, ripping off the bandage.

Luka froze, blinking in confusion. “That’s…when humans pick their life mate, right?”

Adrien looked away, nodding ashamedly. “Yeah. I can’t… I have to… I’m the next in line to the throne, so…I have to marry a woman and…have heirs,” he explained, squirming anxiously.

“You’re very upset,” Luka noted.

Adrien continued to nod, unable to meet Luka’s gaze. “Orpheus…I can’t. I don’t…” He sank his teeth deeper into his bottom lip, mumbling, “…gay.”

Luka tipped Adrien’s chin up, forcing him to meet Luka’s eyes. “Adrien, breathe.”

Slowly, Adrien did, drawing in a gradual inhale and letting it out.

“Good,” Luka praised with an encouraging smile, bringing some colour back into Adrien’s cheeks. “Now, what did you say?”

“I’m gay,” Adrien whispered, tears welling up at the corners of his eyes once more.

Luka’s brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to place the term. “Gay,” he repeated. “I’m sorry. What does that mean?”

Adrien took another deep breath, gathering his courage. “I’m not attracted to women. I…I like men. I want my life mate to be a man, b-but…” He shook his head, voice cracking as his tears began to flow.

Luka went back to work wiping them away. “Humans don’t partner that way,” he whispered, coming to understand. “You won’t be happy with your mate, and you won’t be able to make her happy either.” Luka gave an indignant snort. “I don’t get why humans are so determined to make more offspring. There are plenty to go around. Same-sex couples could just take children off of the impoverished’s hands, and that would probably work out better for everyone.”

“There’s no way my father would go for that suggestion,” Adrien hiccupped. “I can’t do this, Orpheus. I can’t marry someone I don’t love. I _won’t_. If I can’t be with the man I love, I refuse to be with anyone.”

Luka’s expression turned to unreadable granite as he struggled to sound casual as he inquired, “There’s someone you love?”

Adrien blinked, tears drying up in his confusion. “Yes. You mean you didn’t know? I thought I was obvious.”

Luka’s arms dropped to his sides as he tried to keep from lashing out in his hurt. “No. I had no idea. You’ve never mentioned anyone in that way before except…is it your guard friend? Nino?”

Adrien shook his head, slipping his arms around Luka’s neck. “No. Orpheus, no. It’s _you_. I love _you_ , Orpheus.”

Luka’s composure split down the middle, and all the emotions he had ever tried to keep hidden from Adrien spilled out onto his face in rapid succession.

“Me?” he gasped, taking Adrien by the shoulders and searching his eyes for confirmation that his wildest dreams had, in fact, come true.

Adrien nodded. “You.”

“I love you too,” Luka breathed, astonished.

They stared at one another in amazed wonderment for a moment before Luka dove in for a frenzied kiss that Adrien eagerly returned, matching Luka at every turn.

“Run away,” Luka panted when they finally broke for air. “Come with me. Be my mate. I swear you will never have cause to cry ever again, Adrien. Be mine, and I will never give you reason to regret it.”

Adrien didn’t even have to think. “Yes,” he breathed in exhilaration. “Please. Be mine. Take me away.”

Luka grinned wickedly. “Hold your breath.”

He gave Adrien a second to prepare and then pulled him down into the river.

At first, Adrien panicked, thinking that Luka was finally making good on what Adrien had believed to be idle threats about drowning him, but then Luka pressed his mouth to Adrien’s, pushing air into Adrien’s lungs.

“Breathe,” Luka coaxed.

When Adrien’s chest burned and he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, he parted his lips, gasping, fully expecting his lungs to be inundated with river water.

But nothing happened, and he found he could now breathe the water just as easily as he had breathed the air in the clearing.

“How…?” Adrien frowned, mystified.

“Magic,” Luka replied with a smirk and then changed into a handsome black stallion.

Adrien momentarily forgot himself as he stared, blushing madly as he took in every inch of Luka’s anatomy. “Wow.”

Luka stifled a laugh. “Glad to see that this form pleases you. …Get on my back, and I’ll carry you home. It’s too far for you to swim.”

Swallowing hard, Adrien tentatively mounted, wrapping his arms around Luka’s neck to secure himself as Luka galloped through the river, swimming for the lake deep in the enchanted wood.

The water was cool and refreshing as it flowed through Adrien’s hair like the wind. The scenery blurred as Luka ran at an incredible speed, faster than any mortal horse Adrien had ever ridden. He could just discern the outlines of fish and rocks and aquatic plants as they flew past.

Before long, their pace slowed as they came upon a sunken ship at the bottom of a lake, and Adrien had to wonder how the vessel had come to be submerged so far into the forest.

“Welcome home,” Luka chuckled as he landed on the deck at the stern of the ship and shifted back into his humanoid form.

Adrien gasped as he suddenly found himself in a bridal carry, his arms still looped around Luka’s neck.

Luka grinned in elation as he carried Adrien down below deck. “It should still be a few hours before the others come home, so, in the meantime, we have the ship to ourselves.”

“Oh?” Adrien gulped, a soft blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Yes,” Luka snickered, giving Adrien’s delightfully pink ear an affectionate nuzzle as he carried Adrien through the main cabin.

“You do know I can walk, right?” Adrien chuckled but made no move to gain his liberty.

“Yes, I’ve seen. You walk very prettily, My Little Prince,” Luka praised, taking Adrien to his private quarters. “Here we are. Our room,” he announced, gently placing Adrien down on the bed and then climbing up next to him. “Is this all right?” he inquired tentatively, studying Adrien’s face for a reaction.

“It’s perfect,” Adrien whispered reverently, taking it all in in awe.

Luka swallowed hard before anxiously continuing. “Adrien, were you serious when you said you wanted to be my mate?”

Adrien snapped to attention, looking at Luka in surprise at his doubt. “Yes. Absolutely. Orpheus, I love you. You’re the one I want to spend my life with.”

The tension seemed to ease off of Luka’s face as he exhaled, nodding. “Okay. Good, because I’ve actually done a very risky thing by bringing you here. I’ve warned you many times that my kind are dangerous. As my mate, I can protect you, but…you actually have to _be_ my mate.”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he understood Luka’s meaning. “O-Oh?” He cleared his throat, looking down at the bedspread, unable to meet Luka’s gaze. “You mean…right now?”

Luka scooped up Adrien’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Yes. I’m sorry to rush things, but you’re not safe so long as we delay. I need to put my mark on you and make you my mate as soon as possible.”

“I understand,” Adrien assured, raising his eyes to smile bashfully at Luka. “Don’t worry. I _do_ want this. I’m ready. Just…is there any kind of ceremony or ritual your people do when two people decide to be life mates?”

Luka nodded. “Typically, there’s a feast, and the community members all attend to recognize the union. The couple pledges themselves to one another, and the matriarch ties their hands together to symbolize their bond. Then come the usual revelries.”

Luka paused as it occurred to him to ask, “What do your people do when they…get married?” he inquired, remembering the word Adrien had used for it.

Adrien shook his head. “It’s all a lot of pomp and posturing, really. The lavish decorations and clothing to show off wealth. The pageantry to show how important the participants’ families are. I don’t really care about most of the rituals surrounding weddings, but there are a few things that would be meaningful to me.”

Luka tipped his head to the side, curious and eager to please. “Is it anything we could replicate on short notice?”

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “Some of it. We need two cups of wine or any kind of drink, really, and some kind of dessert or sweet with two forks…. You guys do have forks, don’t you?”

Luka chuckled and nodded. “Yes, My Love. We have forks. Anything else?”

Adrien bit his lip. “I don’t think we can do anything about it now, but…when humans marry, they exchange rings that they wear for the rest of their lives as a symbol of their bond. It’s an outward sign that they belong to one another.” He looked away. “Maybe someday we can get rings. It would mean a lot to me.”

Luka leaned in and gave Adrien’s cheek an affectionate lick. “We’ll get real rings as soon as we can. As for the rest, give me five minutes.”

He returned in three with two goblets filled with a deep, purple liquid and a plate of what appeared to be some kind of flan dessert accompanied by two spoon-like forks. He also brought with him a handful of seaweed-like plants. He set the food and drink down on the nightstand and rejoined Adrien on the bed.

“I have an idea,” Luka announced, holding up the lake-grass. He plucked a single hair from his own head, and Adrien watched in amazement as a small pocket of water around the grass started to move, braiding Luka’s hair and the strips of plant into a ring.

Luka held up the finished product with pride. “Ta-da. I know it’s not quite what you had in mind, but will this at least do as a stand-in until I can get you a real ring?”

Adrien nodded vehemently, struggling to hold back tears as his emotions overwhelmed him. “It’s _perfect_. Thank you, Orpheus.”

Luka beamed with vindication, delighted that he’d been able to please his mate. “You’re very welcome, but…I gather that I need one too? You said that people exchanged rings, so…”

Adrien reached up and pulled out a strand of his own hair, presenting it to Luka who repeated the trick with the remaining lake-grass, creating a second ring.

“So…how do we do this?” Luka looked to Adrien for instruction.

Adrien picked up the ring made with his own hair, and gently took Luka’s hand, sliding the ring onto his finger.

“With this ring,” Adrien declared solemnly, gazing lovingly into Luka’s eyes as he did so, “I thee wed.”

Luka took the other ring and copied Adrien’s motions, double checking before slipping the ring onto Adrien’s left ring finger, repeating, “With this ring, I thee wed.”

Adrien grinned, tears beading in the corners of his eyes. “Now we kiss.”

A wide, mischievous smile stretched across Luka’s lips. “I like this tradition.”

The kiss lasted far longer and was much less chaste than was typical at most weddings, but Adrien was enjoying himself and so didn’t bother stopping to educate his groom on the usual etiquette.

When they finally broke away, he smiled contentedly and sighed, “Now we’re married.”

Luka cocked an eyebrow. “Then…what’s the food for?”

“Wedding reception traditions that I think are neat,” Adrien explained. “It’s not really important, but it’s just about the new couple showing how in sync they are.”

Luka’s eyebrow climbed a little higher, intrigued. “Okay. I’m game. Show me what to do.”

Adrien turned and grabbed the goblets, handing one to Luka. “We’re going to cross the arms with the goblets at the forearm so that our arms kind of wrap around each other. Then I drink from my cup and you drink from yours at the same time…without spilling the contents all over one another. It looks cool.”

Luka smiled, willing to follow Adrien’s lead and try the feat if it would make Adrien happy. “All right.” He scooted closer and held up his glass. “Ready.”

Adrien raised his own glass and wrapped his wrist around Luka’s before freezing as a sudden thought occurred to him. “Wait. This is…This is fairy food, isn’t it?”

Luka’s eyes widened momentarily, and then he nodded. “Yes, it is.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed into a frown. “Is it okay for me to eat and drink it? It’s not going to turn to dust or anything, is it?”

Luka shook his head. “No. It’s fine to consume. I’m not playing a trick on you. The only thing is that by ingesting our food, you take a bit of the fairy world into yourself. Have you heard the rumor that those who eat in the fairy world can never return to the mortal one?”

Adrien nodded. “Is that true? Not that it matters. I mean, I’ve married the kelpie of my dreams. There’s no going back anyway…not that I was ever planning to.”

“After eating fairy food, human food tastes like sawdust. You _could_ go back, but it would be a dreadful experience,” Luka explained. “Once you eat our food, it changes you and stays with you the rest of your life.”

Adrien took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding again. “Okay. Like I said, I was never planning to go back anyway.”

“Okay,” Luka agreed.

With their wrists crossed, they both leaned in, each taking a sip from his own cup, their faces centimeters apart.

“Please tell me I get to kiss you again now,” Luka snickered.

Adrien shook his head. “We have to feed each other cake first…or…whatever this dessert is.” He grabbed the flan from the nightstand along with the forks, handing one to Luka. “We each scoop up a forkful and then feed it to one another at the same time.”

Luka nodded, following instructions and preparing a bite of the pudding to feed to Adrien.

Adrien followed suit, chuckling, “Sometimes the bride and groom feed each other with their fingers instead of forks and end up smashing cake into each other’s faces.”

Luka’s pupils widened as an idea struck him. “Can we use our hands?”

Adrien blinked. “Um…yeah. Sure.” He took the piece of flan in hand and smiled shyly at Luka. “Ready?”

Luka gave the nod, and they both pressed their slice of dessert to the other’s lips.

Luka slipped his fingers into Adrien’s mouth and purposely caught Adrien’s fingers in his own lips, sucking on them gently.

Adrien quickly got the idea and softly began to lick the flan off of Luka’s fingers, nearly driving the kelpie insane.

“Please tell me I can kiss you now,” Luka begged.

Adrien responded by scooting in closer, pushing Luka down onto the bed, and covering his husband’s mouth with his own.

It was a good five minutes later before Luka remember what he was supposed to be doing.

“Any more human traditions you want to observe before we move on to my people’s customs?” he asked as he panted underneath Adrien.

“No,” Adrien chuckled breathlessly, sitting up and grinning down at the mess he’d made of Luka. “Make me yours. I’m ready.”

It took every ounce of Luka’s willpower not to pull Adrien back down into another kiss. As beautiful as the young prince had been perfectly composed back in the clearing, Luka had never seen Adrien as attractive as he was now with his hair and clothing tussled and disheveled, his lips red from Luka’s onslaught of kisses.

“In order to mark you, I have to bite you to infuse some of my energy into you. It’s going to hurt,” Luka informed apologetically.

Calmly, Adrien finished untucking his shirt and unbuttoned it the rest of the way, shrugging it off. He tipped his head to the side and offered Luka free reign of his shoulder and neck.

“Do it,” Adrien urged. “I’m sure I seem like a frail, tiny being to you what with being mortal in the first place and you always seeing me at my worst, but I’m actually pretty tough. Besides, you’ll kiss it better afterwards, won’t you?” He shot his husband a brave smile, trying not to show fear.

“Absolutely,” Luka promised, pressing a penitent kiss to Adrien’s cheek as he pulled Adrien into him, holding him tight so he wouldn’t squirm.

“Deep breath,” Luka coached, getting ready.

Adrien inhaled, and Luka sank his teeth into the fleshy part of Adrien’s shoulder.

Adrien gasped, giving a jerk before tensing, gripping Luka tightly, his fingernails digging into Luka’s skin.

It only lasted a minute, and then Luka apologetically began to lick the wound, rubbing Adrien’s back and massaging his scalp.

“Shh,” he cooed, nuzzling Adrien’s neck. “All done. You did such a great job. You didn’t even cry out.”

“I told you I was tough,” Adrien mumbled from his slumped position in Luka’s arms.

“You were right,” Luka praised, “and I’m so proud of you. My mate really is a fine mortal specimen.”

“I try,” Adrien chuckled, beginning to feel a little less lightheaded as he sat up.

“You bite me now,” Luka prompted, removing his shirt and offering Adrien his neck.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Adrien protested weakly.

“You won’t,” Luka promised. “Please? Mark me symbolically.”

Adrien chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip for a moment before leaning in and biting down on Luka’s shoulder.

Much to Adrien’s satisfaction, Luka did flinch.

Adrien honestly didn’t want to hurt his mate, but a part of him was proud that he’d proven in a small way that even though he was a comparatively fragile mortal, he wasn’t completely defenseless. He wanted Luka to respect him as an equal, even though he knew that their relative positions made that complicated.

Adrien released his hold and began to gently lick the angry red marks his teeth had left behind on Luka’s skin. “Sorry, My Love,” he whispered. “I think I got a little carried away.”

“Not at all,” Luka assured, voice low and breathy as he leaned in to nibble gently on Adrien’s ear. “I hope the marks never fade so I can always have a little piece of you with me.”

Adrien pulled back to stare, awed, into Luka’s rapidly darkening eyes. “You really do love me, don’t you?”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Luka scoffed.

“No,” Adrien hummed thoughtfully, guiding Luka down onto the bed and climbing on top. “I just…I don’t see what you see in me. I don’t think much of myself, so it’s a little hard to wrap my head around what someone like you loves about someone like me.”

“ _Everything_ ,” Luka stressed, reaching up to run his thumb along Adrien’s cheekbone. “You are the only genuinely authentic human being I’ve ever met. You’re so good and kind and forgiving. You make me want to be good too so that maybe I can be worthy of you.”

“Orpheus,” Adrien chuckled lovingly, “you already are.”

“Luka,” Luka corrected, feeling that it was finally time.

Adrien frowned. “Sorry. What?”

“Luka,” he repeated, smiling tenderly. “Outside this room, you can call me ‘Orpheus’ or ‘Luc’, but in here, when it’s just the two of us, my name is Luka.”

“Luka,” Adrien breathed, testing out the syllables on his tongue, rolling them around the inside of his mouth, and feeling them with his lips. “Luka.”

Adrien grinned, beaming as he bashfully whispered, “I love you, Luka.”

“I love _you_ , Adrien,” Luka barely got out as he pulled his life mate to him, pressing kiss after desperate kiss to Adrien’s cheek, jaw, eye, lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kissing someone to allow them to breathe underwater is actually a mermaid thing, but it suited my purposes, so I’m using it. ^w^ I think it’s actually an exclusively Japanese mermaid thing because I don’t recall western mythology mentioning anything like that. I’ve just kind of absorbed a lot of different cultures’ myths during my studies and travels. I was raised mostly on Irish/Scottish/English mythology by my grandmother who watched me often while I was growing up. She used to tell me our peoples’ stories. I picked up eastern mythology through my own studies and just kind of assimilated the stories into my knowledge pool, so sometimes I forget what comes from where. ^.^; For instance, in western mythology, if you eat a mermaid’s flesh, does that make you immortal, or is that only an eastern thing?
> 
> Anyway. What did you think of the chapter? Did you like the impromptu marriage ceremony? What was your favourite part? Did you have a favourite line?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you again on Sunday, 01/17/2021.
> 
> Take care!


	4. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien meets the Couffaine clan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! How are you doing today? I hope you're all well. Thank you for joining me for another installment, and thank you to everyone supporting this work with kudos, comments, and bookmarks. I'm really happy that people are actually reading this. XD
> 
> I hope you enjoy Chapter Four.

Over the course of the next three hours, as they lay in bed together, they talked about a myriad of things: whatever popped into their minds ranging from how Adrien had been afraid of asparagus when he was a child—“Stop laughing! I was five, and I thought the little spears on the sides would open up and stab the inside of my stomach!”—to how Luka had always dreamed of travelling to Scotland to see where his mother had grown up. They talked about favourite colours, favourite noises (the overlapping [ticking of many clocks](https://youtu.be/oqUYR5KeeU8?t=1193) for Adrien and the sound of someone blowing into a bottle for Luka), and what regrets they had in their lives. Topics spanned everything from the ridiculous to the heavy, taking pitstops everywhere in between.

They napped for stretches, made love several times, and stopped for snacks every so often before starting the cycle of conversation, mating, sleep, and food all over again.

“We should get up and make ourselves presentable, My Love,” Luka finally announced reluctantly, loathe to leave the comfortable moment they found themselves suspended in.

“I wish we could stay here like this always,” Adrien sighed, pushing himself up to sitting.

“You’ve captured my thoughts exactly,” Luka chuckled, slowly extracting himself from Adrien’s warmth. “We’ll have plenty of time to bask in each other’s company more later,” he assured his husband and himself. “We have our whole lives to lie in bed together.”

“True,” Adrien hummed, but then his face took on an uneasy expression. “…I’m nervous about meeting your family, though. I understand it will probably be an adjustment for them, having a new member…me being mortal. How big of an issue do you think this will be?” He looked up at Luka searchingly.

Luka threaded his fingers through Adrien’s. “They’re going to love you as soon as they get to know you. It might be a little rocky at first, but we’ll get through this. Everything is going to be fine.”

Adrien swallowed hard, nodding. “Okay. I hope you’re right. I’ll just…whatever happens, I’ll just hang in there…. I really want them to like me, though,” Adrien groaned.

“They will,” Luka assured, leaning in to give Adrien’s cheek a quick lick. “For the meantime, _I_ like you.”

“And that’s more than enough,” Adrien whispered, leaning in to nuzzling Luka’s jaw.

They ultimately decided that it would be best for Luka to go out first and break the news to his family so that they would be prepared to meet Adrien.

Luka got Anarka, Rose, and Juleka together in the main cabin, telling them that he had big news to share.

“No points for guessing what it is,” Juleka snickered. “You finally deflowered your precious prince.”

“We can smell him all over you,” Rose giggled, giving her brother-in-law’s hair an affectionate tussle.

“We could smell it as soon as we set foot inside the house,” Anarka teased, shooting Luka a playful wink.

“We’re _happy_ for you, Luc,” Rose assured, giving a spin and sinking down onto the couch.

“Yeah,” Juleka snorted, taking a seat beside Rose. “Now, hopefully you’ll come to your senses and be cured of your infatuation.”

Anarka frowned as she caught how Juleka’s comment made Luka wince. “Juleka, be nice.”

“What?” Juleka pouted. “We’re all thinking it. He’s been so moody and lovesick the past two months. His obsession with this mortal boy isn’t healthy, and we all want to see it run its course, don’t we?” She looked between her mother and her mate indignantly. “ _I_ certainly want my brother back. The sooner he breaks loose from whatever spell this prince has cast on him, the better.”

“Juju, let him be in love,” Rose coaxed, clicking her tongue softly as she looped her arm through Juleka’s and intertwined their fingers. “It’s not hurting anything.”

“Rose is right,” Anarka soothed, petting her daughter’s hair as she settled down on the couch with the other women. “Let Luka live his life and have his fun.” She looked up at her son, and her smile dimmed as she observed his grave expression. “Now, what did you need to tell us, Luc?”

Luka shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he had a lead ball rolling around in his stomach. Worst case scenarios started popping into his head. He had taken it for granted that his family would, even if they had their reservations, support him without question. What if they didn’t? Was he prepared to cut ties with them and strike out on his own with Adrien? What if they tried to hurt Adrien?

There were so many things that it hadn’t dawned on Luka to consider, and now terrifying thought upon terrifying thought was piling up.

Luka gulped and took a deep breath.

He was so glad that Adrien was still safe in their room where he would never have to know what Luka’s family actually thought of their love.

“Big Bro, are you okay?” Juleka called softly, starting to become concerned. “I didn’t mean to make you mad for real. I’m sorry for teasing about your human pet.”

Luka shook his head, trying to piece his scattered thoughts together. “I’m fine. I…I just…Well…As you’ve deduced, things between Dri and me have gotten more serious. _Really_ serious, and his father is trying to force him to become life mates with some woman he doesn’t love, so he’s running away, and it turns out he loves me just like I love him, so I brought him here to live with us.” Luka swallowed, catching his breath as they sat in stunned silence before he delivered the final blow. “He’s my life mate now. This isn’t some passing phase that I’m going to outgrow. He’s the one I’m destined to spend my life with. I choose him.”

Rose, Anarka, and Juleka stared wide-eyed at him, trying to process everything he’d just dumped upon them.

When they didn’t react right away, Luka panicked, thinking the worst. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d support me. I didn’t realize…” He dropped his head in defeat and turned to slink back to his room. “I’m sorry. We’ll leave tomorrow first thing.”

This declaration startled the women into action, and they cried out as one, “Wait!”, “Don’t go!”, and “No!”, rising from the couch and converging on Luka, each placing a hand on him to halt his retreat.

“We were just surprised!” Rose insisted, tugging at his arm.

Meanwhile, Juleka simultaneously growled, “There’s no way I’m letting him take you away from me.”

And Anarka stroked her son’s hair as she assured, “Of _course_ we support you, Ma Baleine.”

Luka looked around at his family hopefully, “You support me?”

Juleka snorted indignantly. “We don’t have to agree with your decisions in order to support you through the biggest mistake of your life.”

“Juleka,” Rose cooed, latching onto her wife and tugging her away gently. “I know you’re scared and you’re hurting, but this is not a productive way to show Luka that you love him and are concerned about the choices he’s making.”

“Ignore your sister’s tantrum,” Anarka sighed, turning Luka to face her and placing her hands on his shoulders. “Luc, we’re a family, and family sticks by one another no matter what.”

She pressed her lips together as she thoughtfully studied her son’s face. “…Does your prince make you happy, Luka?”

Luka nodded emphatically. “Happier than I’ve ever been in my life. No one’s ever made me feel this way before, Maman.”

Anarka nodded slowly, trying to let go of her own worries and focus on her child’s happiness. “So be with him until he stops making you happy. And then move on and find someone _else_ who makes you happy. Until then, we’ll do our best to get along with Dri.”

She turned to give her daughter a hard look. “ _Won’t_ we, Juliet?”

Juleka gave a petulant snort and then shrugged. “I promise to tolerate his existence so long as he doesn’t hurt you, but I’m not going to be friends with him.”

“You don’t have to be,” Luka sighed, seeing that that was all he could probably hope to achieve with his sister until she actually got to know Adrien and realized that he wasn’t like the humans who had hurt her when she was young. “I just wish you would give him a chance. I love him, Jules, and I love _you_. It would mean a lot to me if you two could coexist.”

Juleka averted her eyes and gave another shrug, muttering a wounded, “How can you love him when you’ve only known him two months? How could you pick him over us, your own family?”

Luka pulled away from Anarka and went to his sister, taking her chin gently in his hand and tipping it up. “Jules, I’m _not_ picking him over you.”

“It feels like you are,” she mumbled, still refusing to meet his gaze.

“I’m _not_ ,” he promised. “You’ll see. It’s going to be okay, Juleka. You’ll see once you get to know him.”

She shrugged again, giving an indistinct murmur.

Luka looked to Anarka and Rose. “May I bring him out and introduce you? He’s waiting to meet you.”

Juleka made a dissatisfied noise, but gave no further protest, and the other two readily agreed.

“Just…be nice, please,” Luka pleaded. “Keep in mind that he’s leaving his family, his entire world and way of life to be with me. He’s used to comfort and luxury and power, and he’s sacrificing that because he loves me, so…don’t make him regret giving it all up for me, please.”

“I’ll pretend not to hate him, I guess,” Juleka conceded, her tone letting everyone know how put out she was.

“No worries,” Anarka assured. “We’ll be on our best behavior.”

“I’ll make sure he feels welcome,” Rose promised, giving Luka an encouraging smile.

“Go ahead and bring him in,” Anarka prompted.

Luka took a deep breath and then went to fetch his husband.

“How did it go?” Adrien, who had obviously been pacing furiously in Luka’s absence, practically pounced on his spouse as he came back through the door. “Did they disown you? Did you tell them I’m mortal? Was there a problem?”

“None at all, My Love,” Luka assured, injecting false confidence in his words and masking his unease with a calm smile. “They’re happy that I found someone who makes me happy, and they’re excited to meet you.”

Adrien instantly perked up. “Really? What great news!” he trilled in celebration, and it was then that Luka found himself wishing he had tempered his response a little more. He didn’t want Adrien to be disappointed by the less-than-effusive reaction of his family.

“My sister is a little overly cautious due to bad experiences she had with humans when she was very young, but, given time, she’ll come around. Everything is going to work out,” Luka assured, praying that it would be so.

Adrien nodded, holding out his hand to take Luka’s so that they could face the rest of the Couffaine clan as a united front.

They shared a quick kiss and headed out to the main cabin.

“Holy carp, Luc! You didn’t say he was _hot_ ,” Rose cackled, giddily inspecting her new brother-in-law.

Luka winced, but Adrien just chuckled, feeling one part amused, one part nervous, and one hundred percent out of his depth.

Luka rolled his eyes. “Well, I mean…I’m pretty sure I told you I was head over heels in love with him. I hope you assumed he was attractive.”

“Let it never be said that my son doesn’t have good taste in men,” Anarka chuckled, giving Adrien an appreciative once-over.

Juleka snorted, crossing her arms and switching the cross of her legs. “I don’t see what the big deal is. He just looks like a puny human male to me.”

Rose gave Juleka a sound elbow to her side. “Forgive my mate. She doesn’t find any kind of male attractive, so she’s not really qualified to judge.”

“You just have a thing for princes,” Juleka grumbled.

“Prince Ali was just a celebrity crush,” Rose hissed. “It didn’t mean anything, and, besides, that was before we were together.”

“Didn’t make it hurt any less,” Juleka huffed.

Anarka saw the pleading look Luka was sending her and took her cue to intervene, coming over and extending a hand to Adrien. “Please ignore my daughters. They don’t know how to act in public,” she remarked with a long-suffering sigh. “You can call me Anarka. It’s nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

“Please,” Adrien chuckled in embarrassment as he shook Anarka’s hand. “I don’t really think such formality is necessary. My name is Ad—”

“—Dri!” Luka interrupted sharply.

Adrien jumped and gazed at his husband in confusion as if he had received an unexpected blow.

Luka shook his head as he rested a comforting hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “My Love, please tell me you weren’t about to blab your true name to them. How many times have I warned you how dangerous that is?”

Adrien blinked, looking around from Luka to Juleka to Rose to Anarka and back to Luka, puzzled and taken aback by the implication that he had done something wrong. “But…I thought… We’re a family now, aren’t we?”

He looked in time to see Juleka roll her eyes and toss her head, and a sinking feeling made his entire body feel heavy as gravity seemed to triple.

He gulped, face falling even further. “I’m sorry. I seem to have misunderstood.”

“No,” Rose insisted, getting up and leaving Juleka on the couch to come to Adrien’s side, scooping his hands up into hers and giving them a bolstering squeeze. “No, Dri. You’re right. You’re a member of our family now, and we’re so happy to have you. It’s just a lot safer the fewer people who know your true name. Less people to slip in front of others,” she hastily explained.

Adrien’s mood tentatively improved. “Oh. …Oh. Okay. Sure. That makes sense, so…what shall I call you?”

“I go by Rose,” Rose informed with a cheery grin, tugging Adrien over to the couch to sit with Rose taking the place between Adrien and Juleka. “This is my mate, Luc’s sister, and you can call her Juleka.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Adrien smiled hopefully, trying to make a good impression. “Luc has told me so much about you.”

Juleka gave a snort and made no move to shake Adrien’s hand or bow in greeting. Calmly and coldly she replied, “Look. I don’t like you. You stole my brother from me, and I don’t trust you. We’re not going to be friends, so you can stop trying. We’re just going to play nice and tolerate one another until my brother gets sick of you, okay?”

“…That’s…That’s fair,” Adrien replied in a meek voice, withdrawing his outstretched hand. “Well, it’s still nice to meet you, Juleka. I hope you change your mind about me.”

Juleka shrugged. “I don’t mean to be mean to you. I’m just being straight with you, so you know what to expect. I’m not going to lie and pretend that I like you when I don’t. This is nothing personal. I just don’t approve of your relationship with my brother. I don’t think you’re good for him, so I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to play tricks on you or attack you or anything. Just stay in your own lane, and I’ll stay in mine. Make my brother happy, and I’ll leave you alone. Hurt my brother, and I’ll hurt you,” she informed him matter-of-factly.

“Juju,” Rose scolded. “You were supposed to be nice to him.”

Juleka looked away, muttering, “I’m bad at being fake. I figured it was better if I just told him the truth instead of leaving him wondering what he did to grievously offend me.”

Anarka let out a tired sigh, shaking her head. “Okay. Well. Now that introductions are out of the way…Dri, you just let us know if you need anything or have any questions. We’ll all try to be accommodating and civil while we each get used to our new living arrangements.”

“Thank you, Anarka,” Adrien replied with a polite, seated bow. “I really appreciate you all welcoming me into your home. I know I’m probably not what you wanted as far as a mate for Luc goes, so I’m very grateful for your kindness and hospitality.”

Anarka took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “You’re right,” she admitted. “This isn’t what I wanted for my son, and I do have my reservations, but, from what I’ve heard about you from Luc, you’re a good, considerate person, and you care about my son a great deal. I think those are the most important things, so we’re all just going to try to make this work. What I want above all else is for Luc to be happy, and if you’re the person who makes him happy, so be it.”

Rose looked up at her mother-in-law, tipping her head to the side curiously. “So, when are we going to have the ceremony?”

Anarka blinked, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Ceremony?”

Rose nodded, looping her arm through Adrien’s. “For Dri and Luc. To celebrate them becoming mates.”

Indignant heat rose on Juleka’s cheeks. “We can’t have a ceremony celebrating my brother taking a mortal lover. The rituals are only for _our_ kind.”

Adrien shrank, ashamed, as he realized that even though he and Luka loved one another, that didn’t mean that their happily ever after was assured. There were still a great many obstacles standing in their way.

It had all seemed so wonderful and perfect when he’d been lying in Luka’s arms not thirty minutes prior, but now…now he could see the struggles that lay ahead clearly.

Juleka gave a huff as she continued, “To put on a farce of Luc taking a human as a life mate would be absolutely ridiculous. No one would go along with it.”

“They would if I told them to,” Anarka growled, seeming to grow several centimeters as she straightened up to her full height. “Dri’s being mortal doesn’t necessarily make him unfit as a mate,” she snorted. “Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean that it _can’t_ be done.”

Juleka shrank deferentially, shrugging as she crossed her arms tighter and looked away. “I’m just saying that no one’s going to go for it,” she muttered.

Anarka turned to Luka. “Is this something you want?”

Luka cast his gaze down at the floorboards and shrugged. “It’s your decision. You’re our leader.”

Anarka blew out a tired sigh as she took Luka by the cheeks and made him face her. “Ma Baleine, if you want a ceremony, just say the word. If you don’t care, we won’t make a fuss, but if this is something you want, I will fight the whole clan and beat them into submission if they protest. Just tell me what you want.”

Luka looked to Adrien who was fidgeting with nervous, excited energy beside Rose on the couch. “Little Prince, is this something _you_ want?”

Adrien bit his lip. “I mean…I don’t want to make trouble for you and your family. It kind of sounds like I’m not qualified to be your legitimate mate, so…if your sister is right and it would only make a mockery of the ceremony for you to go through the motions of it with me, then…” He looked away as he mumbled, “I’d never want to embarrass you.”

Luka closed the distance between them in three strides, kneeling before his mate and scooping up Adrien’s hands, giving them a firm squeeze. “My Love, I could never be embarrassed by you. You’re sweet and smart and funny and kind and absolutely gorgeous. You’re noble not only of birth but also of character. I am honored to be chosen as your mate and proud to have you by my side. Now…do you want to have a—what did you call it?—a wedding?”

Adrien nodded eagerly, eyes glistening as tears of joy started to build. “Yes. Please. I want to do whatever it is your people do to make this official. I want this to be real.”

“It’s already real,” Luka chuckled, stretching up to catch Adrien’s lips in a soft, reassuring kiss.

“Aww,” Rose cooed, tugging on Juleka’s arm. “Juju, look at them. They’re adorable!”

“They’re disgusting,” Juleka grumbled, trying her best not to let her heart soften as she saw how happily in love her brother was, how sweet he and Adrien were together.

“This is very, very real, My Love,” Luka assured, ignoring his sisters and nuzzling Adrien’s nose affectionately.

“Okay,” Adrien whispered, feeling more at ease. “Thank you,” he stressed, giving Luka’s cheek a playful lick.

Luka licked him back, laughing giddily in his joy.

“Aww. I _love_ them,” Rose declared, jostling her mate with her shoulder. “Don’t you love them?”

Juleka really didn’t want to love them. “Whatever. So we’re having the ceremony, right? I get to be the ribbon bearer and Luc’s attendant.”

“And I’ll be Dri’s attendant!” Rose volunteered excitedly, beginning to bounce in her seat.

Anarka snickered and shook her head, resting her hands on her hips as she smiled at her children fondly. “Well, it sounds like that’s settled, then. I’ll get the preparations in order, and we’ll have the ceremony tomorrow night. Mon Raquin, could you please prepare dinner while I see to the ceremony?”

“On it!” Rose cheered, latching onto Adrien’s arm and beaming at him, taking him by surprise. “Wanna help?”

Adrien froze. “Um…I’d love to help, but I’ve never cooked anything before, so I might only get in your way.”

Rose rolled her eyes and waved away his concern. “I’m sure you’ll pick it up in no time. I’m very patient, I promise.”

She tugged him to his feet and away from Luka, slipping her hand into his as she led him to the kitchen on the far end of the main cabin around the corner from the stairs. “You’ll see. It’ll be fine. Now, tell me what you eat so that we can make sure there’s enough food for you. Kelpies eat a lot of weird, dead stuff. I’m a [naiad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad), so I chiefly eat fish. Do you like fish, Dri?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I like fish and seafood. I eat a lot of plants too. Like fruits and vegetables? Do…Do you guys eat stuff like that?” Adrien inquired uncertainly.

“Oh, yes!” Rose assured, taking him over to the refrigerator and showing him the various foodstuffs inside. “We have plenty of that. This should be easier than I thought.”

Meanwhile, Luka gazed after Adrien, watching him nervously.

Juleka chuckled, stretching out her leg to tap Luka’s foot gently with her own. “Don’t look so worried. Rose isn’t going to hurt your precious prince.”

“Not on purpose,” Luka grumbled, craning his neck to watch as Rose started to explain how to use a knife to chop vegetables for the shrimp stir-fry.

Juleka clicked her tongue. “She’ll be careful. I know she acts like an airhead a lot of the time, but she’s actually very astute. She picks up on little things that others don’t notice. She’s very aware of her surroundings. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Luka conceded, settling down onto the couch, looking over the back of it so that he could still keep an eye on the situation. “But he’s so fragile, Jules. I wasn’t thinking when I brought him into our world. It would be so easy to break him.”

“You worry too much,” Juleka snorted, scooting in to give his foot another kick. “For a puny mortal male, he actually seems pretty tough.”

Luka nodded. “He is, but…I love him so much, Juleka. If something happened to him…” He looked at his sister, and the terror in his eyes was viscerally evident.

She reached up and tussled his hair, repeating, “You worry too much.” She looked over the back of the couch and smiled as she watched her mate gently guide Adrien’s hands as he learned to use the knife.

Rose fussed over him and praised him generously as he got the hang of it.

It made Juleka’s heart swell to see the love of her life so excited and happy at making a new friend.

“I think Rose has adopted your prince,” Juleka chuckled.

“That wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Luka hummed, trying to relax.

Adrien glowed at Rose’s praise, smiling proudly as his confidence grew.

Luka couldn’t help but grin along with his mate. “His mother died unexpectedly a few years ago, and his father has never been a warm, supportive presence in his life. He has no siblings, only a few friends… He’s been very alone his whole life, and now he’s left what little he had to be with me…. It would be really nice if this could be a warm, supportive place for him. It would be good if we could be the family and friends he’s never really had.”

Juleka gave a neutral hum, once again trying not to feel anything for the mortal boy who was passively ruining her brother’s life. “Well, Rose is really taking to him, so he’ll have a sister at least.”

“That’s a start,” Luka relented, seeing that he’d gotten as far as he was going to with Juleka at that moment. “That’s a good start.”

He gave her hair a fond tussle, and she responded with another gentle kick of his foot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, Rose saying “holy carp” is one hundred percent intentional and not a typographical error. ^.^
> 
> So what did you think of the chapter? Was there a part you particular liked? Did you have a favourite character? What did you think of the family dynamic in general?
> 
> I wonder if you can understand Juleka’s feelings. How does she come off? I tried to convey that she doesn’t have anything personal against Adrien necessarily but, rather, that she’s worried about her brother and feels displaced in this new family dynamic. She’s used to being the most important to Luka, and while she wants him to find love, she doesn’t want to be replaced or pushed aside, especially not for someone she thinks is only going to hurt Luka.
> 
> Translation Note: Anarka's nickname for Luka, Ma Baleine, means “my whale”. Rose is Raquin “shark”, and Juleka is Lamantin “manatee”. Adrien eventually becomes "Mon Poisson" (fish).
> 
> Thank you for reading, everyone. Please let me know what you thought because I'd love to know! I'll see you again on Sunday, 01/24/2021. Take care!
> 
> References:  
> Clocks: https://youtu.be/oqUYR5KeeU8?t=1193  
> Naiad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad


	5. Unity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get married the fae way this time.   
> (In which there is much partying and dancing and fluff.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thanks for joining me once again, and thank you so much to those of you who have been commenting, leaving kudos, bookmarking the story, and otherwise promoting this fic. I love you and appreciate your support more than I can say. Lukadrien is such an unpopular pairing, so sometimes I get really depressed and wonder why I bother posting because sometimes it feels like no one is reading and I'm just sending my work out into the void to languish and die. It's really lonely to be a Lukadrien writer, so I wanted to thank everyone who supports me and makes me feel less alone in the world. <3 You all are wonderful, so thank you.
> 
> Special thanks to pkk who reads everything no matter how ridiculous the pairing or scenario. XD You sustain me. <3 Like, I'm not even kidding.
> 
> Okay. Now that I'm done being mushy, are you ready for some Lukadrien fluff? I think this chapter is my favourite, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Rose spent the morning dragging Adrien around the town at the center of the enchanted wood, helping him shop for new clothes and other personal items.

Adrien bit his lip nervously as Rose produced gold coin after gold coin to pay for their purchases. He wasn’t sure how much the goods were worth in mortal money, as he had never had to pay for anything before in his life, but he had the feeling that this shopping trip was expensive, and he was beginning to feel guilty.

“Rose,” he called tentatively as they left the second tailor’s shop. “Is there any way I could get some sort of employment, do you think?”

Rose arched an eyebrow at him. “I mean…maybe. I wouldn’t recommend it, but… Why do you ask?”

He lowered his head and his voice. “I just feel really bad. I didn’t mean to become a financial burden, so…I was hoping there was some way I could earn money to pay the family back and contribute somewhat.”

Rose openly laughed at the idea, reaching up to give his ear an affectionate tug. “Oh, Dri. You’re so cute. No, no, no. There is absolutely no need for you to go get a job. Just learn how to do practical things like cooking and cleaning and fixing things and help out around the house. That’s more than enough.”

He was very tempted to take her at her word and let it go, but he still felt like he wasn’t doing his part in comparison with everything the Couffaines were doing for him. “But…I’m sure it costs a great deal of money to keep an additional person fed and clothed. Are you certain I’m not a financial drain on the family?”

She laughed again and shook her head. “Dri, Anarka is clan leader for this whole district. We have plenty of money. Even with all that we’ve spent today, there’s still more than enough left for us all to live very comfortably for decades to come.”

Adrien’s eyes went wide, and he stopped walking. “Wait. You mean… Is Anarka, like…the _queen_ of the fairy kingdom?”

“Not the whole thing,” Rose snickered, endlessly amused by her new mortal brother. “We don’t really have royalty. At least, not in this country. We have Parliament and a Prime Minister here. Anarka is kind of a big deal, though. She’s the appointed representative for this whole district, our ‘clan leader’. She runs things for the area, makes sure that resources are distributed fairly, mediates disagreements…that kind of thing. When all the clan leaders get together to discuss policy matters, she goes and represents our district, so…I don’t know if you humans have anything like that, but that’s what Anarka does.”

Adrien nodded in awed silence, rolling the ideas around in his mind as they began to walk again.

“So, you’re not a burden,” Rose summarized, tugging him towards a third tailor’s. “Come along. We need to get you an outfit for the ceremony tonight.”

Adrien was incredibly nervous as Rose helped him get ready for the ceremony.

She went over the proceedings several times with him, slowly walking him through every step so that he would know what to expect and what would be expected of him.

It still didn’t prepare him for how beautiful the ceremony was and how emotional the whole thing made him.

After sunset, along the bank of Anarka’s lake, the fair folk of the district gathered, seated in rows with a wide aisle between the two sections, not unlike the main aisle of the chapel on the castle’s grounds back home where Adrien was supposed to have gotten married to some duke or another’s daughter.

The clearing was lit with floating orbs of light that looked like fireflies or stars hovering overhead. The trees had been draped with blue, green, and yellow ribbons, and a canopy of vibrant flowers was suspended as if by magic over the spectators.

Anarka was waiting at the end of the aisle to perform the ceremony, dressed in her official clan leader robes.

Luka, looking somehow even more ethereal than the day when Adrien had met him, walked down the aisle first, accompanied by Juleka who proudly carried the red ribbon that would be used to tie Luka and Adrien’s hands together to symbolize their unity.

“Our turn,” Rose whispered once Juleka and Luka had reached Anarka, slipping her arm through Adrien’s and coaxing him down the aisle.

Adrien knew that hundreds of eyes were upon him, but he couldn’t feel their judgmental stares. All he saw was Luka: radiant, handsome, beaming, lovestruck Luka who was looking at Adrien as if he were the sole reason the sun rose in the morning and the stars came out at night.

Adrien floated down the aisle in a trance, and once he reached the end, Luka pulled Adrien into his arms, giving him a squeeze and letting their foreheads rest against one another for a private moment that lasted an eternity.

“Love you,” Luka whispered, not caring who saw how besotted he was with this mortal boy.

“Love you too,” Adrien chuckled, savoring this little pocket of time.

Too soon, they pulled back so that only their hands were joined, and Anarka started the traditional rites.

Anarka spoke for several minutes about love and partnership and respect and supporting one another, but Adrien didn’t hear any of it.

He was too busy drowning in Luka’s presence, trying to memorize the exact shade of aquamarine of Luka’s eyes, the tilt of Luka’s lips as he smiled lovingly back at Adrien, the way the mystical firefly light highlighted some parts of Luka’s face and cast others in shadow, the warmth and weight of Luka’s hands in his own…

Adrien only realized that Anarka had stopped talking when she cleared her throat, looking at Luka expectantly as she silently laughed with her eyes.

“Stop ogling your prince and recite the pledge already,” Juleka prompted with a fond eyeroll.

Luka gave a start and blushed as he came back to himself. He took a deep breath and bashfully recited, “I pledge myself to you, to be your partner in all things, to be your support and your shelter, to forever be on your side, never to trick or deceive you, and to respect and love you always, in this life and the next.”

All eyes turned to Adrien who took a shaky breath and nervously repeated the vow.

His voice cracked, and Luka gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.

They shared a tender smile, and Adrien finished strong with utter conviction in the words, “to respect and love you always, in this life and the next.”

The final part of the relatively quick ceremony (Rose had explained that this was because the afterparty was the main event for the fair folk and that the dancing, drinking, and feasting typically went on until dawn) was the tying of the hands.

Juleka stepped forward and held out the red ribbon to Anarka who gently wrapped it round and round Luka and Adrien’s intertwined hands, saying, “The string of fate now binds you together. You are one. Remember the oaths you pledged one another today, and do no purposeful harm, always act in the other’s best interest, be faithful and true, and never let anything come between you. You are one. Your mate is your other self. Remember that well so that you do not destroy yourself from the inside out. You are one.”

“Now kiss!” Rose stage whispered excitedly.

Adrien stepped in, pressing his mouth firmly to Luka’s ready and willing lips.

Luka responded eagerly as the applause of the gathered crowd faded into the background unnoticed as the couple focused every fiber of their attention on one another.

Slowly, Luka pulled back and gave Adrien’s cheek a reverent lick before carefully leading Adrien back down the aisle.

Adrien happened to catch glimpses of the expressions of some of the creatures who had gathered to celebrate their union. Some looked bored or indifferent, and others were scornful, but the majority of the faces Adrien spied as they made their exit seemed to be wearing positive expressions.

Adrien hadn’t been sure exactly what to expect. The fair folk he’d met earlier that day on his shopping trip with Rose had seemed pleasant enough, but the way Juleka had talked about the idea of Luka marrying a mortal and what the community would think hadn’t left Adrien optimistic…but maybe things would be okay after all.

They made it to the end of the aisle, and Anarka, Rose, and Juleka soon followed to help them untie their hands as the congregation started to file out on their way to the afterparty.

Adrien was introduced to over a hundred people and had a hard time keeping up with names, but most people were nice and repeated their names several times without being asked, and Luka and Rose made sure to say people’s names over and over throughout conversations to help Adrien out.

The banquet was delicious with dozens of dishes spread out on a long table by the lakeside that seemed to magically refill itself whenever the serving trays ran low.

The firefly orbs hovered overhead, and the guests gathered around bonfires to eat and mingle, giving the clearing a warm, cozy atmosphere.

Luka stayed close at Adrien’s side the majority of the night, but he occasionally got pulled away by some important person or another who had known him since he was a child and wanted to talk to him one-on-one to impart sage advice. At those times, Rose swooped in to play chaperon so that Adrien was never without a familiar face.

Adrien slowly began to feel like he had his feet under him as the night went on, and he even started to make friends. Ivan and his sweetheart Mylène were trolls from the foot of the mountain not far off from Anarka’s lake, and Ivan had been playing in a band with Luka, Rose, and Juleka for some time. Mylène was close friends with Juleka and Rose and very sweet and welcoming to Adrien.

It turned out that Alya, a fox spirit, was extremely curious about human beings and had often snuck away to visit the town surrounding Adrien’s castle. She and Adrien had a long discussion about human customs that Alya had always found fascinating but never understood.

Kim (a [selkie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie)), Max (a [nix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_\(water_spirit\))), Alix (a [lamia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia)), and Ondine (a [siren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_\(mythology\))) came from a lake on the other side of the trolls’ mountain and were all in some kind of [polyamorous](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory) relationship with one another. They were very friendly, and Adrien had a good time talking with them and watching as Kim and Alix competed with one another, seeing who could eat more bite-sized [yuzu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzu) tarts in one minute, who could fit more dates into their mouth at once, and who could swim more laps of the lake. Ondine joined in this last contest and won.

Adrien decided to participate when they competed to see who could swim down to the bottom of the lake the fastest. He lost by quite a bit, but everyone gave him credit for his efforts despite being at a clear disadvantage.

They were all laughing on the lakeshore when Luka found them.

“Do you guys mind if I steal my mate back from you?” he chuckled, smiling proudly at the fact that Adrien had managed to make friends.

“Actually, we’re thinking about annexing him,” Max joked, and his mates all joined in, affirming this assertion.

“Not funny,” Luka snorted, reaching down to pull Adrien up to his feet. “Mine,” he announced, wrapping his arms around Adrien and nuzzling his neck possessively.

“Luc,” Adrien chuckled. “They’re not serious. Relax,” he coaxed, turning around in Luka’s arms to give his cheek a dutiful lick. “You’re the only one for me.”

“Aww,” Ondine and Rose chorused while Alix made gagging sounds at the romantic display.

“Go ahead and go do nasty, couple-y things,” Kim snickered, waving them off. “You have our blessing, but know that we’ve got our eyes on your sexy human boy.”

“You are so crude,” Max sighed, shaking his head in fond exasperation as he patted Kim on the shoulder.

“Come on, Love,” Luka called gently, tugging Adrien away.

“It was nice meeting you all!” Adrien called back to them. “We’ll have to hang out again some time.”

“For sure!” Alix answered for them all.

“I’m glad you’re making friends,” Luka remarked as he led Adrien away from the crowd, into the woods.

“Me too,” Adrien chuckled giddily. “I think I mentioned before that I wasn’t really allowed to interact with peers much back at court. I mean, Chloé and Kagami and Lila were kind of sort of my friends, but…it was more in name only most of the time. Chloé and Kagami were a little closer to me, and we did connect sometimes, but…I didn’t really feel like I could be my true self with them. Their expectations were a little restrictive. I was really only myself in front of Nino and Marinette, but the crown prince isn’t really allowed to hang out with his guard and his seamstress, so… It means a lot to me to finally be able to freely interact with people,” he summarized.

“I’m so glad that you’re finally getting this opportunity,” Luka stressed as he came to a stop in a small clearing where the glow of the bonfires and fireflies just barely reached.

Adrien took a moment to look around curiously in the dim lighting. “So…what brings us here?”

“Nothing in particular,” Luka explained, sheepishly scratching at his cheek. “It’s just a secluded place, and I haven’t been truly alone with you since we left our room this morning, so…can you really blame me for wanting to be alone with my—what’s the human word for it again? Husband?”

“Husband,” Adrien agreed, pulling Luka into his arms and giving his throat a slow lick.

Luka shivered, letting out a low nicker of pleasure.

“I _love_ that sound,” Adrien hummed happily.

“I’ll be sure to make it more often,” Luka chuckled, nuzzling Adrien’s hair.

“Mm,” Adrien agreed contentedly, savoring the sensation of having Luka in his arms. “…I feel like I’m living in a fairy story.”

“Is that a good thing?” Luka had to wonder.

“Mmhm,” Adrien confirmed. “In the stories my mother used to tell me, the princess always escaped from her evil stepmother’s clutches and found her prince and lived happily ever after. Now, here I am escaping my father’s plan to make me miserable and force me to be just like him, marrying my kelpie prince, and on my way to living very, very happily with him.”

“I’m not a prince, though,” Luka chuckled.

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Clan leader’s son. Whatever. Same difference.”

“Not really. My mother is an elected official,” Luka clarified, delighting in teasing his mate and seeing him pout. “The power of her office doesn’t extend to me.”

Adrien looked up at Luka and glared, “Orpheus, stop poking holes in my personal fairy story with your dumb facts. I’m trying to be a starry-eyed romantic over here. Where’s Rose?” He looked back at the crowd of revelers, trying to spot his sister-in-law. “She would get it.”

“I get it. I get it,” Luka protested, pulling Adrien back in close. “I was just teasing. I’m sorry.”

“Meh. I guess I forgive you,” Adrien snickered. “But only because it would be lame to be mad at you on our wedding night.”

“I thought last night was our wedding night?” Luka chuckled. “Didn’t we get married yesterday?” He hummed as he ran his fingers over the impromptu ring that Adrien still wore.

“Yes,” Adrien decided in a measured tone, “but tonight is too. Yesterday we celebrated like my people. Today we’re celebrating like your people so that it feels legitimate to both of us; therefore, we get two wedding nights.”

Luka bit his lip as he considered Adrien’s words. He pulled back to meet Adrien’s gaze as he hesitantly remarked, “You seem a little insecure about the legitimacy of our union. Are you okay, or is this something you want to talk about, or…?”

Adrien looked away, training his gaze on the party guests. He breathed a deep sigh as he replied, “…I don’t know. It’s just that almost all my life I knew I didn’t like girls like I was supposed to. I was always so scared that someone would find out, and I was always so jealous of the princesses who had been born ‘right’ so that it was okay for them to fall in love with and marry princes, so… Where I come from, what I feel for you is wrong. Expressing our love together is a crime, so…if you were a human like me, this wouldn’t be possible. I couldn’t be your husband, and we’d have to sneak away together in shame and hope that no one ever caught us because they would kill you and lock me up in a tower until they found some suitable woman to marry me off to, so…”

Adrien took a big breath and looked back at Luka with tears beading in the corners of his eyes. “So, yeah. I’m kind of insecure about the legitimacy of our union because, where I come from, our union isn’t legitimate. I never thought I’d be able to have this with someone I love. I thought I was doomed to be alone and miserable my whole life, but…”

He shook his head and shrugged. “Yeah. Being able to have a wedding and be treated by the community as a real couple is a big deal for me. I’ve wanted this so badly for so long, and I’m scared stiff that someone’s going to take it away.”

“No one is taking me away from you,” Luka promised, stepping in and resting his forehead against Adrien’s. “You heard what my mother said during the ceremony, right? You and I are one. The string of fate binds us together, and no one is capable of severing our bond. Not even your father. We’re safe, Little Prince. No one can break us apart.”

“Oh,” Adrien breathed, relaxing into Luka’s hold.

“Mmhm,” Luka whispered. “You’re mine now. Always. Just like I’m yours. We’ve got the rings on our fingers and the bite marks on our shoulders to prove it, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” Adrien mumbled tiredly, setting his head down on Luka’s shoulder. “You’re right. We’re safe, aren’t we?”

“Absolutely,” Luka assured, gently rocking Adrien from side to side.

They stayed there for a long time, holding one another and swaying in rhythm to the music coming from the clearing just beyond the trees.

Luka eventually began to hum along, and the calming sound of his husband’s breathy vocalizations nearly lulled Adrien to sleep as all tension left him.

“Hey,” Luka called softly, causing Adrien to stir.

“Hm?”

“Dance with me,” Luka entreated. “Teach me a human dance.”

“A human dance?” Adrien chuckled.

“I’ve seen humans dance before, so I know you do it,” Luka playfully accused. “Don’t play dumb with me, Little Prince. Show me your cultural practices.”

“I’m not a very good dancer,” Adrien excused himself perfunctorily, “but I guess I could try teaching you to slow dance.”

“Slow dance?” Luka echoed, intrigued. “Okay. Sure. Show me.”

“Here.” Adrien took Luka’s right hand in his own and guided Luka’s left hand up to rest on Adrien’s shoulder. He placed his right hand at the small of Luka’s back. “This is a standard dance hold. Now, all we’re going to do is step-touch with our feet back and forth. See?”

Adrien slowly stepped to the right and touched his left foot to the ground before stepping back to the left and touching with his right foot.

Tentatively, Luka joined in, mirroring Adrien.

“Okay. I think I’ve got it. Now what?” Luka prompted after several rounds of step-touching.

“Now we move,” Adrien informed with a smile, using his hands as leverage to guide Luka into a turn. “Just keep step-touching and follow where I lead you,” he instructed and found that Luka was a quick study.

“We’re dancing,” Luka laughed gleefully as Adrien carefully guided him around the clearing.

“Yep. You’re a really good student, Orpheus,” Adrien praised. “…Do you want to try leading now?”

“May I?” Luka questioned with a tentative eagerness.

Adrien readily nodded and stopped to change the positions of their hands. “Just lead me where you want me to go with a gentle pressure, and I’ll follow.”

Luka pursed his lips and furrowed his brow in concentration as they began to move. He was hesitant and careful, almost as if he were afraid of hurting Adrien.

“Luka,” Adrien called softly, “You’re not going to break me. I mean…you could if you wanted to, but you don’t, so you’re not going to. I trust you.”

Luka’s teeth sank deeper into his lip. “I worry that you trust me too much sometimes.”

Adrien shook his head. “You worry too much.”

“That’s what Juleka said,” Luka sighed.

“You weren’t so careful yesterday when we were in bed,” Adrien baited and did an internal victory dance as his husband’s face flushed scarlet.

“That… You…” Luka struggled to produce sentences. “Naughty human.”

“Very,” Adrien agreed with a devilish smirk.

“Hush. We’re dancing now,” Luka pouted, proceeding to lead Adrien around the clearing more assertively.

“There you go,” Adrien praised, proud at how quickly Luka was picking up the steps. “It must be a musician thing. You’re really good at this.”

“Maybe,” Luka allowed. “But aren’t you a musician too? You said you played the harpsicord, didn’t you?”

“Meh. I’m just a hobbyist,” Adrien deflected with a shrug. “You’re the real musician in this marriage.”

Luka hummed thoughtfully. “We Couffaines are all musicians. Music is in our blood. Maybe it’ll rub off on you.”

“Hm… I’d like that,” Adrien decided.

“…Teach me another dance?” Luka requested after they’d been going for some time.

“Maybe some other time,” Adrien answered apologetically. “The rest of the dances I know are kind of complicated. It would take a while to explain the figures, so we wouldn’t be able to actual dance right away, and I want to keep dancing with you.”

“Oh, all right,” Luka relented. “But I’m holding you to it.”

“Sure,” Adrien agreed. “Maybe you could even teach me some of your people’s dances too.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Luka assured. “The fair folk adore singing and dancing and merrymaking.”

“Then, I’ll show you a different version of the slow dance,” Adrien proposed, stepping in and circling his arms around Luka’s neck. “Put your hands on my waist,” he directed, and Luka complied. “Now, we just sway from side to side and shuffle our feet around a little.”

“Not a very exciting dance,” Luka started to chuckle but then abruptly stopped laughing as Adrien came in closer until their bodies were pressed flush together. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Adrien purred. “It’s a nice, simple dance.”

“I like this dance,” Luka reported.

“This is the first time I’ve ever enjoyed it,” Adrien sighed, laying his head down on Luka’s shoulder. “Usually, it’s just a hurtful reminder of how I’m broken…when I’m at banquets and have to dance with women,” he elaborated.

“You’re not broken, My Love,” Luka cooed into Adrien’s hair. “You’re perfect just as you are.”

“I’m finally starting to believe that,” Adrien whispered. “It’s just…all this time, I was told that people like me were sick and disgusting. I guess there’s still a part of me that believes that lie.”

“Your society is what’s broken,” Luka insisted, squeezing Adrien tighter. “It’s okay, though. You’re safe here, and day by day it’s going to get easier to believe that there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s going to get easier.”

“Yeah,” Adrien breathed softly, melting into Luka’s embrace and trying to let go of all the baggage that had continually held him down throughout his life.

They swayed gently from side to side, enjoying this stolen moment together for as long as it would last.

Eventually, they slowly pulled away and gazed at each other with pure love in their eyes.

“Want to head back to the party?” Luka suggested, tipping his head back towards the clearing by the lake where the revelers were still eating, drinking, and dancing like it was their occupation.

Adrien shook his head, an impish smile peeking out from around the corner of his lips. “I want to head back to our room. Like you said earlier, we haven’t really been alone all day since we left our room this morning, and I want my husband all to myself.”

“Oh,” Luka snickered, eyes flickering with mischief. “Well, then. That can certainly be arranged.”

Adrien pursed his lips, cautiously inquiring, “We’re not going to offend anyone by sneaking off, are we? I don’t want to start my life here off on the wrong foot.”

Luka shook his head with a knowing smile, taking Adrien’s hand and leading him back towards the lake. “Trust me, so long as there’s food and wine and music, ninety-nine percent of our guests won’t care.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed slightly. “What about the other one percent?”

Luka chuckled. “That would be Maman, Rose, and Juleka, and Maman and Rose would find the reason for our truancy amusing.”

Adrien nodded slowly in understanding. “And Juleka already hates me anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Luka flinched, shooting his mate a pleading look. “She doesn’t hate you, My Love. It’s just very complicated…. Please give her time.”

Adrien bit the inside of his cheek.

It sure felt like Juleka hated him, but…how did he really know what was going on inside his sister-in-law’s head? Luka had mentioned that she’d been traumatized by her interactions with humans when she was very young, and Adrien could plainly see why she didn’t want her brother marrying a mortal. He could understand some of the reasons why Juleka potentially didn’t like him, but that didn’t make her rejection of him hurt less.

Still.

Adrien was the cause of the Couffaines’ lives being turned upside-down, and yet they were treating him well and attempting to adapt. Rose had outright befriended him, and Anarka was trying her best despite her misgivings. Juleka wasn’t friendly, but she wasn’t making his life hell (which it would be well within her power to do) either.

The Couffaines’ reception of Adrien was far warmer than Luka’s would have been at court if their roles were reversed and Adrien had brought a kelpie fiancé home.

The least Adrien could do was be patient and give them time.

He forced his lips into a small smile and nodded dutifully. “Okay,” he acquiesced, giving Luka’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ll do my best. She did say yesterday that it was nothing personal, so…she’s probably just worried about you. I can tell she really loves you.”

Luka returned Adrien’s forced smile with a genuinely grateful one. “She does, and I love her too. I’m very close with my sister, so it makes me sick to think that my relationship with one of you could drive a wedge between me and the other. I know it’s very difficult for the both of you, but…if you two could just keep trying, it would mean the world to me.”

Adrien stopped to pull Luka in for a bolstering kiss. “Don’t worry, My Love. I would never do that to you, and if Juleka really does love you, she wouldn’t either. You’ll never have to choose between us. Okay?”

Luka placed a grateful kiss on Adrien’s forehead, affirming, “Okay. Thank you, Adrien.”

A jolt went through Adrien at Luka’s use of his real name, coursing through his veins and spreading out across his entire body. He pulled Luka in for another, rougher kiss, whispering, “Anything for you,” against Luka’s lips.

Luka hummed into the kiss, loving when Adrien’s buried assertive nature came out. “We really need to get home now.”

“Agreed,” Adrien sighed longingly, employing all of his self-control not to pounce his husband then and there on the lakeshore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it. What did you think? Was there a particular part that you liked best? A line of dialogue or description that stood out to you?
> 
> I think I really liked the scene in the clearing where Luka and Adrien dance. I also like the firefly lights floating in the air. I hope the descriptions in this chapter were vivid enough that you could imagine them. :/ I tried to clearly convey the images in my head, but I'm not sure that it got across. ^.^;
> 
> What did you think of the ceremony? I think the fair folk would have a quick ceremony so that they could hurry up and get to the partying already. Did you like the vows? I had fun writing Alix, Max, Kim, and Ondine. It was a brief scene, but they're so much fun. I'd really like the opportunity to write the classmates more often.
> 
> Anyway! Thanks for reading everyone! I'll see you again on Sunday, 01/31/2021 for the next chapter. Until then, let me know what you thought because your comments metaphorically/literally give me life, and you wouldn't want me to die, would you? XD
> 
> Take care everyone!
> 
> References:  
> Selkie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie  
> Nix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_(water_spirit)  
> Lamia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia  
> Siren: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)  
> Polyamory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyamory  
> Yuzu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzu


	6. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien gets settled in with the Couffaines, Luka finds even more to love about Adrien, and Juleka brings shocking news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I hope you're having a nice day. ^.^ I'm still Mikau, and I'm doing okay. I've had a rough December/January, and I'm hoping things will improve soon. I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, so I'll feel better once it's warmer out and I get more sunshine.
> 
> Thank you all for joining me for another chapter, and special thanks to everyone who has bookmarked the story, left kudos, or taken the time to send in comments. I appreciate you all. You really keep me going, so thank you very much.
> 
> I hope you enjoy today's chapter! ^.^

For the first week after the wedding, Luka and Adrien didn’t leave the house, let alone their bedroom, much.

They got out more the second week, visiting the clearing by Luka’s bend in the river several days and going into town to run errands for the family as well as to show Adrien around to help him get his bearings and introduce him to people.

Even still, Luka didn’t let Adrien out of his sight while they were out and about, sticking close by and keeping a sharp eye on the people around them when they were in public places.

“Do you think I need to start wearing my knife out?” Adrien inquired one evening at the beginning of the third week.

Luka gave a start, cocking his head in confusion. “Why? Do you feel unsafe?”

Adrien gave his head a shake. “Not at all. Everyone’s either civil or avoids me. More often than not, people are friendly. No one’s been hostile,” Adrien assured, giving his husband’s bicep a light squeeze. “It’s just that you’re always so tense when we go out, like you’re afraid someone’s going to jump out of the bushes and attack.”

Luka averted his eyes, cheeks taking on a salmon hue in his embarrassment. “I’m sorry if my behavior has given you the wrong idea. I just…worry too much.”

Adrien leaned in to give Luka’s cheek a bolstering lick. “Would it make you feel better if I was armed?”

Luka frowned, his expression turning skeptical. “My Love…I don’t want to sound patronizing, but what would you realistically do with a weapon, if you wore one?”

Adrien shrugged. “Not much if someone used magic on me, but, if it were a physical attack, I could defend myself.”

Luka’s skepticism morphed into indulgent affection as he reached up and stroked Adrien’s hair. “Adrien, that’s a nice idea, but…”

Adrien’s eyebrow quirked. “But what? You don’t think I could?”

“I didn’t say that,” Luka replied gently with that same glint in his eye, that of a parent humoring a child.

Adrien frowned. “Luka, I realize that I’m a comparatively fragile being to you, but I’m not defenseless. I’m an accomplished swordsman, and I’ve been trained in hand-to-hand combat. I can protect myself, so please stop babying me. I don’t appreciate it.”

Luka’s pale blue eyes widened in surprise, and he rushed to repair the damage. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like I was looking down on you. I’m sure you’re right that you’re very capable, but my world is a dangerous place, and you’re not accustomed to it, so I worry about you.”

Adrien fixed his husband with a gaze brimming with determination. “Well, it’s my world now too, so I’m going to have to get accustomed to it, don’t you think?”

Luka grimaced, biting at the inside of his cheek. “I suppose that’s true, but…Adrien, I love you, and the thought of something happening to you makes me feel physically ill.”

Adrien’s expression softened as he reached up to cup Luka’s cheek. “Orpheus, I understand that I’m never going to be as strong as your people. I know that I seem ‘breakable’ to you, but I really need you to start trusting me.”

“Adrien—” Luka began to protest, but Adrien placed his thumb over Luka’s lips and shook his head.

“Shh. Yes, I _know_ you trust me, but…maybe what I mean is that I need you to _believe_ in me,” he clarified, eyes pleading with his mate. “Back at court, no one ever believed in me. They treated me like a child and always looked down on me. They spent all that time educating and training me, but no one actually believed I could _do_ anything with all that knowledge. No one ever gave me the chance to prove myself.”

Luka’s eyes widened in understanding, and he began to nod.

Adrien took a deep breath, organizing his thoughts. “…I guess what I’m asking you is to give me a chance. We’re supposed to be partners, right?”

“Absolutely,” Luka confirmed, taking Adrien’s hands in his own and giving them a squeeze of solidarity.

“Then treat me as your equal,” Adrien entreated. “I don’t want to be babied and coddled and protected from everything anymore. I want you to treat me like a competent human being. I’m pretty sure I could be one if someone gave me the opportunity.”

“…Okay,” Luka breathed, resolving to do his best to take a step back and let go. “I…” He swallowed hard. “I believe in you.”

“Thank you,” Adrien whispered, eyes going damp with gratitude as he leaned in to press his lips to Luka’s. “That’s the best gift anyone could ever give me.”

Step one of learning to believe in Adrien took the form of sparring matches where the young prince completely took Luka by surprise.

“You’re…” Luka struggled to find the word from his position on the ground where Adrien had laid him out flat by blocking Luka’s swing and then sweeping Luka’s legs out from under him.

“…Phenomenal?” Adrien suggested smugly as he pulled his shirt back on. “Inspiring? Incredibly good looking?”

“Definitely that last one,” Luka chuckled, accepting Adrien’s hand up only to tug his husband down to the ground with him.

“Cheating,” Adrien pouted, leaning in to nip Luka’s earlobe.

“You’re actually quite proficient at unarmed combat,” Luka remarked, pleasantly surprised.

Adrien gave a snort. “I mean, I told you so.”

“Yes,” Luka agreed, “but I’m used to mortals bragging and overselling their skills.”

“Do I seem like a braggard to you?” Adrien clicked his tongue, feigning offense as he quietly relished Luka’s impressed approval.

“Never,” Luka assured, tussling Adrien’s hair and massaging his scalp.

Adrien luxuriated in the attention for almost a full minute before cracking his eyes open and grinning impishly. “Wanna get your butt kicked by a mortal again?”

“Yes please,” Luka whimpered. “It’s unbelievably attractive when you kick my butt.”

The next step in learning to believe in Adrien came when Max, Alix, Kim, and Ondine started paying him regular visits.

At first, it made Luka extremely nervous to watch his mate roughhousing with the others. Kim in particular made Luka uneasy because Kim didn’t treat Adrien any differently from a fae whereas the others were a little more cautious around the mortal.

The discomfort gradually faded, however, as Luka watched Adrien goof around with his new friends without some tragedy transpiring.

Slowly, Luka learned that he didn’t have to worry so much. Things were okay. Nothing bad was going to happen to Adrien, and even if Adrien weren’t strictly “safe”, he could still take care of himself.

Luka had gotten to know Adrien’s vulnerable side when the weeping prince had come to Luka’s clearing for refuge and shared his fears, sorrows, and insecurities with the kelpie. What Luka hadn’t seen before was Adrien’s strength, Adrien’s resilience, and Adrien’s courage.

It was breathtaking getting to know this new side of his mate, and Luka found himself falling all over again for this spunky, capable, mischievous Adrien—and just as hard as he had for the sensitive, compassionate, thoughtful boy he’d become enraptured with three months before.

Eventually, Luka got comfortable enough that Adrien could venture out on his own or with others without Luka fretting too much.

Adrien quickly found his place within the Couffaine family.

Rose continued to adore her new brother and patiently taught him everything he needed to know about cooking and cleaning and basic home upkeep.

They often went into town together and hung out in Rose’s favourite clearing by a charming bend in the river where the tributary turned into more of a trickling brook.

Rose introduced Adrien to her friends, and, soon enough, Adrien had a devoted little following among the [naiads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad), [dryads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryad), and other nymphs.

Unfortunately, Rose and Adrien’s sudden close friendship made Juleka feel threatened because of all the time Rose was spending with the mortal. This tension, on top of the resentment Juleka already felt towards Adrien for supposedly taking her brother away from her, did not make things any smoother between Adrien and his mate’s sister.

Anarka quickly warmed to Adrien, though. As she got to know him better and saw how Luka and Adrien were together, it was easier for her to set aside her earlier misgivings about the relationship.

Adrien soon found his place in fae society by serving as Anarka’s intern as she went about her clan leader duties.

Since Adrien had been raised and educated to one day become ruler of his kingdom, he knew a fair deal about government and policy. He found it fascinating to study the ways in which a democracy differed from a monarchy, and he discovered that he really enjoyed following Anarka around, observing how she interacted with her constituents, and acting as a sounding board to help her come up with creative solutions to the various problems the community faced.

“I can’t tell you how nice it is that one of my kids is finally taking an interest in my work,” Anarka guffawed over dinner one night, clapping Adrien proudly on the back. “Dri has a real knack for government!”

“Of course he does,” Luka readily agreed, smiling in satisfaction at his mother’s praise of his mate. “He’s intelligent, a fast learner, kind-hearted, and resourceful. It’s not surprising that he’s a natural.”

Rose gave Adrien’s hair a playful tussle, cooing, “That’s our boy!”

Adrien looked to Anarka, tentatively inquiring, “I wouldn’t be eligible to someday run for a government position, would I? There isn’t some way I could get…like…fae citizenship or something?”

Anarka bit her lip, considering. “I don’t recall anything like this ever coming up, so I’m not sure, but…if this is something you’re interested in pursuing long-term, stick with me. I’ll help you get your feet wet. Maybe then, in a few years, people will recognize you and be familiar with the kind of work you do. If enough people support you and want you to represent them, I don’t see why you being mortal should be a problem. We’ll get them to accept you into the community before too long, Mon Poisson,” she assured, resting a supportive hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you worry.”

“Thank you, Capitaine.” Adrien beamed, overflowing with delight at feeling like he had finally found a place where he belonged.

The sensation left him when Juleka spoke up.

“If you want to work in government so much, why don’t you just go home?” she asked, tone honestly curious and devoid of any of the usual spite. “I mean, you’ve got a whole kingdom to run, don’t you?”

Adrien’s gaze dropped to his plate. He could still feel Juleka’s inquiring eyes on him, and it made his cheeks burn as he bashfully mumbled, “That place isn’t my home.”

“His home is with us,” Anarka confirmed, shooting a reproving look her daughter’s way.

Juleka put her hands up in surrender and dropped the topic, not pressing any further.

“Who wants blackberry cobbler?” Rose interjected, trying to restore peace and balance. “Dri and I just made it this afternoon, and it’s scrumptious.”

Under the table, Luka gave Adrien’s knee a supportive squeeze, eliciting a tired smile from Adrien who placed his hand on top of Luka’s and squeezed back.

Time gradually slipped by, and the leaves morphed from vibrant green to blood red, burnt orange, and saffron yellow before fading to mottled brown and drifting down to coat the forest floor in a crunchy layer of debris.

Winter snuck in, putting a prickly chill into the air as it entered Adrien’s lungs.

Small clumps of ice began to form in the water, and Adrien started to worry about the lake freezing, trapping him underneath.

“Little Prince, you’re not going to drown,” Luka coaxed, pulling his mate in closer one night when Adrien awoke from the recurring nightmare.

“I feel like I can’t breathe,” Adrien whimpered.

“Here. Let me share some of my air,” Luka offered, pressing his lips to Adrien’s.

“…S-Sorry,” Adrien panted when they broke apart. “I feel like such a baby for freaking out like this.”

“No, Adrien,” Luka cooed, smoothing his husband’s hair. “It’s okay. It’s a perfectly understandable fear. Nothing to be ashamed of…but there’s no need to worry. The lake never freezes solid, and my powers protect you. You’re perfectly safe.”

Adrien snuggled back into Luka’s chest and exhaled an enormous sigh. “…My mother drowned.”

Luka craned his neck to try to get a glimpse of Adrien’s expression as he whispered a stunned, “What?”

“Almost seven years ago. When I was thirteen,” Adrien added softly. “I was terrified of taking a bath for a couple months afterwards.”

“You never said anything,” Luka accused, thinking back with dread to all the times he’d joked about drowning Adrien the first two months of their friendship.

Adrien shrugged. “It didn’t seem relevant. I wasn’t scared until I started worrying about the lake freezing over and being stuck down here. I wasn’t scared after the first time you pulled me into the river and kissed me so I could breathe. It’s just the thought of being trapped that’s freaking me out.”

Luka placed a whisper of a kiss to the top of Adrien’s head. “You will never be trapped ever again,” he promised. “I know you’ve felt that way your whole life and that freedom is still new for you, but this is permanent. Things will never go back to the way they were…and I will never let you drown.”

“Thanks, Orpheus,” Adrien mumbled into Luka’s chest, holding his husband tighter as he drifted back to sleep.

Adrien was in the kitchen, helping Rose to prepare the New Year’s feast when Juleka came down the steps from the deck and poked her head in, resting her elbows on the countertop.

“Sweetie, do you think you could spare Dri for fifteen minutes, or do you need him?” she inquired of Rose, tipping her head to the side.

“We just got everything in the oven, so I should be able to manage,” Rose replied, taking off her oven mitts and turning to quirk a suspicious eyebrow at her mate. “Why do you ask?”

Juleka shrugged. “I just wanted his help with something.” She shifted her gaze to Adrien. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Adrien readily agreed, eager to help his sister-in-law and hopefully win brownie points.

In the three months since marrying into the family, Adrien didn’t feel like he’d made much progress with Juleka, and he was keen to improve the situation any way that he could.

“Great. Get your coat and meet me on the shore,” Juleka instructed with what passed for the hint of a smile.

Three minutes later, Adrien found his sister-in-law sitting by the lakeshore, skipping stones absentmindedly.

“Here I am,” he announced his presence so as not to startle her. “What did you need help with, Juleka?”

Her auburn eyes lazily came to rest on him, and she stood and motioned for him to follow. “Walk with me. I wanted to talk with you.”

“What about?” Adrien inquired nervously, his stomach starting to tie itself into pretzels as she led him into the woods.

She kept walking, not bothering to answer until the lake was out of sight, swallowed up by the enchanted trees.

Only when they’d reached a clearing did Juleka turn to face him, breathing out a long sigh and crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m going to be straight with you,” she informed wearily. “I’ve actively _tried_ to dislike you, but I just don’t. You’re polite and kind, and you do a good job helping out around the house. You’re a good cook. You’re fairly quiet, and you stay out of my way,” she verbally ticked off, and Adrien briefly dared to hope that this was going to be a positive conversation.

“I’ve _tried_ to hate you,” Juleka stressed, “but I just don’t, so what I’m about to say is nothing personal.”

Adrien’s chest tightened, and he mentally braced himself for whatever hurtful thing his sister-in-law was getting ready to say next.

“What would it take to get you to leave?” she earnestly inquired and then waited expectantly for his response.

Adrien’s brow began to crinkle in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What’s your price?” Juleka rephrased, asserting, “I know you have a price. All humans do.”

Adrien staggered backward as if physically assaulted by the declaration. “Price?” he repeated, stunned and still trying to process her words.

“What would I have to give you to get you to leave my brother alone and go back to your castle where you belong?” she snorted indignantly, losing patience as he seemed to try to play innocent.

Adrien’s ears started to ring.

“I thought Luc would have lost interest in you by now,” she grumbled with a shake of her head. “His infatuations usually pass within a month, but this is getting dangerously serious. He’s obsessed with you, and I’m starting to get scared,” she confessed, the fear evident in her flame-like eyes.

“He’s completely lost his mind. He’s talking about _dying_ with you,” Juleka hissed, wrapping her arms around herself tighter, trying to hold in her anxiety and terror. “He says he can’t live without you. Do you know how insane that is?”

Adrien did not know, because what Juleka was describing summed up his feelings for Luka pretty well, so the sentiment was mutual.

“Our people live centuries,” Juleka stressed, trying to get her point across. “At best, you’ll live maybe another sixty or seventy years. You say you love him. If you really loved him, would you steal hundreds of years from him? Would you take away all of that time, all of those experiences he could have?” she pleaded.

Adrien averted his gaze, unable to find his voice to answer as he stared at the blades of grass carpeting the forest floor, still magically flourishing despite the bitter cold.

“I guess what I’m really asking is: Do you love him? …Or are you selfish?” she challenged.

At the beginning of the year, Adrien would have slunk away with his tail between his legs, but, in the five months he had known Luka, the three months that they had been married, Adrien had changed. He’d begun to understand an important truth: the fact that he was worth something, the fact that he was likeable and deserving of love.

Adrien took a slow inhale and swallowed hard, looking up to meet his sister-in-law’s eyes as he declared, “I love him…so the thing I want more than anything is for him to be happy…and it sounds like the thing that makes him happy more than anything is _me_.”

Juleka’s eyes went wide in surprise.

She had expected the normally meek Adrien to fold and give in when confronted. She had never anticipated this kind of response.

“So, I’m going to stay by his side as long as I live,” Adrien decreed with all the authority of a nobleman certain of being heeded. “I’ll do my best to persuade him to live on without me, but what he does after I’m gone is up to him and you and Rose and Anarka. If he already feels like he can’t live without me, how would it help matters to deprive him of me even sooner by leaving?”

Juleka didn’t reply. She hadn’t considered this. She’d just been thinking that, if Adrien left, things would go back to the way they were before. She’d get her brother back, and Luka would no longer be in danger.

“Besides,” Adrien added more softly. “There’s nothing you could give me to make me leave. I gave up wealth and power and comfort to be with him so that I could have freedom and love and a feeling of belonging. I already have everything I want, Juleka. I’m sorry that my happiness is making things hard for you.”

She blinked, opening and closing her mouth several times, trying to form some kind of retort but completely at a loss.

“Well,” Adrien exhaled. “If there’s nothing else you need, I should really get back to helping Rose in the kitchen. Thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention.”

With a polite nod, Adrien turned on his heel and headed back home.

Later that night, after the New Year’s feast, Juleka and Adrien were in the kitchen washing dishes when Juleka muttered, “You didn’t tattle on me,” in honest surprise.

Adrien blinked, looking up from the plate he was rinsing in confusion. “I’m sorry. What?”

“You didn’t tell the others what I talked to you about earlier,” she elaborated, peering up at him curiously from the cup she was drying.

He shrugged, looking away. “What good would that do? It would only cause discord and get you in trouble, and I don’t want that. For my mate’s sake as well as my own, I just want to live here in peace and get along with everyone.”

Juleka hummed pensively, considering Adrien’s reasons.

“Besides,” he continued in a whisper. “I sort of get why you’re acting this way. You love your brother, and you think I’m a threat. You’re just trying to protect him. Honestly, we both want the same thing; we just have different ideas about how the goal should be achieved. I can’t fault you for doing what you think is right.”

Juleka gave a snort of a laugh. “No, Your Highness, you really, really could if you tried. The problem is you’re too _good_. Alya’s right about you. You’re a total cupcake.”

“I know that you’re making fun of me, but I’m choosing to take it as a compliment,” Adrien replied with a charming smile that Juleka had to exert a lot of effort in order to pretend that she was immune to.

“Suit yourself…Cupcake,” Juleka snickered.

Adrien had been with the Couffaines for six months when winter’s grip on the land began to loosen, and the trees stretched their limbs, yawning into bloom.

One day, Juleka came back from town early, flying down the stairs as if pursued, her basket almost empty of the items she had been sent to purchase.

“Adrien!” she shouted, stumbling into the main cabin, eyes wide in alarm.

Adrien gave a start, looking up from the strings of Luka’s lyre where his husband was positioning Adrien’s fingers as Luka taught Adrien to play.

Anarka looked up from her magazine to glare at her daughter, scolding, “Juleka, not so loud. Anyone could hear you, shouting like that. Even the fish have ears.”

Rose stood from her place on the couch, going to her wife. “Juju, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Juleka shook her head, holding up a hand to assure Rose that she was fine as she hurried over to Adrien. “Prince Adrien of the Kingdom of Agreste…right?” she inquired cautiously, as if afraid of cutting the wrong wire of a ticking bomb.

“How do you know that?” Luka growled in warning, wrapping his arms around Adrien more tightly in protection.

“You two are loud, and the walls aren’t that thick,” Anarka scoffed, half-amused.

Juleka kept shaking her head. “In town. I ran into Alya. She’s always going to the human city. She said King Gabriel…” Juleka gulped, struggling to compose herself as she tried again, “…Your father is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? I know there were a lot of short scenes, but I don't think of them as filler. I feel like they were important for showing the growth of the characters and their relationships.
> 
> Did you have a favourite scene? What did you think about how I showed the passage of time? Any thoughts on the Juleka-Adrien conflict? I worry that poor Juleka is misunderstood because we don't get to spend much time in her head to fully appreciate her perspective on events.
> 
> Oh, yeah. And what did you think about the ending? Is this an interesting plot twist? Maybe? ^.^;
> 
> Translation Note: Anarka’s nickname for Adrien “Mon Poisson” means “My Fish” to go along with the nicknames she has for Luka (Baleine/Whale), Rose (Raquin/Shark), and Juleka (Lamantin/Manatee).
> 
> Thank you very much for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought because I'm lonely and want people to talk to me. -.-;
> 
> Take care everyone. I'll see you again on Sunday, 02/07/2021.
> 
> References:  
> Naiad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naiad  
> Dryad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryad


	7. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien goes back to the palace to face his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Happy Sunday. Thank you for joining me for the latest installment. I really appreciate your continued support, and I hope you enjoy Chapter Seven! ^.^

Adrien was suddenly ten times more grateful for Luka’s arms around him than he had been seconds before. If not for his husband’s support, he was certain he would have collapsed as his mind fogged over and his body went cold.

His father…dead?

Surely there was some mistake. His father wasn’t yet fifty. Adrien had just seen him six months prior when Gabriel announced Adrien’s impending arranged marriage, and Gabriel had been fine, the same as ever.

How could his father be dead?

“—ien. Adrien, can you hear me?” Luka was calling right next to Adrien, but he sounded so far away.

“Is he okay? He’s gone all pasty,” Rose fretted.

“Everyone step back and give him some air,” Anarka instructed. “Luc, lay him down on the couch.”

When the world came back into focus, Adrien found himself stretched out on the seat of the couch, his head pillowed in Luka’s lap, a cool cloth resting on his forehead.

“Hey,” Luka cooed, brushing Adrien’s fringe back out of the way. “Have you come back to me?”

“What happened?” Adrien muttered, finding his tongue slow and lazy, like a piece of rubber in his mouth.

“You just had a bit of a shock, Mon Poisson,” Anarka explained from her station at the end of the wraparound couch. “Nothing to worry about. Everything’s fine.”

“Let me go get you something to drink,” Rose volunteered, rushing to her feet, eager for some useful task to do with her nervous energy.

“My father,” Adrien remembered suddenly, looking to Luka.

His mate grimaced, shaking his head. “Juleka heard from Alya that talk in the city is that the king died yesterday evening.”

“Oh,” Adrien breathed, trying to recall what he had been doing the previous day. “I…I have to…”

“See if you can sit up a little and drink this,” Rose coached, kneeling beside the couch and holding out a glass of blackcurrant tea.

Luka carefully helped Adrien back to vertical and took the cup from Rose, holding it up to Adrien’s lips.

“Thank you,” Adrien directed at them both when he was done. “I need…I think I need to go back.”

Luka’s eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t protest.

“If that’s what you think you need to do, we support you,” Anarka assured. “Just tell us what you need.”

“What do you mean you need to go back?” Rose demanded with a frightened whine to her voice as she looked around the room in confusion. “That’s not your world anymore.”

Juleka was noticeably silent, sitting on the far end of the couch with her gaze glued to the floorboards, looking visibly shaken herself.

“I can’t abandon my people,” Adrien replied, still half dazed. “I’m their king now. I can’t just turn a blind eye and leave them to fall victim to whatever despot wins their bid for the power grab in my absence. I have to go back.”

“Permanently?” Rose gasped, stricken by the prospect.

“No,” Adrien quickly assured. “No, not permanently. Just for a little while. Just until I can make sure my people will be in good hands.”

Anarka nodded her approval, pride for her newest son coming off of her in waves.

Adrien shakily got to his feet and looked back mournfully at Luka. “I have to go,” he whispered.

Luka gave an indignant snort as he stood and announced, “I know that, Silly. _I’m_ going _with_ you.”

Juleka gave a jerk, finally coming back to awareness. “You’re what?! Luka, you can’t go! There are all those humans! It’s _dangerous_!”

Luka went over to his sister, giving Adrien’s arm a reassuring pat as he passed. He knelt down in front of Juleka, taking both of her hands in his.

“Jules?” he called softly. “It’s going to be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’m strong, and, even then, Dri will be there to protect me. Right now, my mate needs me by his side, so I have to go, all right?”

She shook her head but didn’t protest. “…Come back soon, okay?”

“As soon as we can,” Adrien promised.

Luka wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the warm welcome that they received.

Apparently, the prince was well-loved by his subjects. As Luka and Adrien made their way through the city, people swarmed Adrien and wept and shouted in joy when word got around that their prince was alive and well and had been returned to them.

Luka soon began to see why they adored Adrien so much as he observed his mate interacting with the people. Adrien knew their names and asked after their grandchildren, various ailments, and particular hobbies.

“I thought you said you didn’t really have friends,” Luka hummed quietly once they got away from the crowds. “Your people love you. That woman named her daughter after you. You’re on a first name basis with their pets. It seems like you have many friends among your people.”

Adrien grimaced, replying in a hushed, regret-filled tone. “Can it really be considered friendship when it’s not reciprocal? They’re good, kind people, and talking with them was always the highlight of my day, but they don’t know me, Orpheus.”

Adrien shook his head sadly. “I could never open up and be my true self around them. We’re acquaintances. Friendly acquaintances. Not friends. I couldn’t tell any one of them how much I was suffering, about my attraction to men, about my mother. They love the mask I put on to serve them. They don’t really love _me_.”

Luka slipped his hand discretely into Adrien’s. “ _I_ love you.”

“Yeah,” Adrien chuckled softly, a faint smile coming back to his lips. “I’m insanely lucky like that.”

“Not lucky,” Luka corrected. “Just wonderful. Wonderful people deserve wonderful things.”

Adrien gradually came to a stop and turned to look at Luka.

Luka quirked a questioning eyebrow.

“Thank you,” Adrien whispered earnestly.

“You’re welcome. …For what exactly?” Luka’s head tipped to the side.

Adrien shook his head and shrugged, smiling self-consciously. “Loving me. Choosing me. Fighting for me. Coming with me. …I can’t tell you how much I love you. Once again, I’m terrified, and I feel like the earth is crumbling out from under me, but, once again, you’re here to ground me. I don’t know where I would be or what I would do without you.”

Luka squeezed Adrien’s hand gently. “You would figure it out. You’re stronger and smarter and braver than you give yourself credit for…but I’m happy to be here to support you so you don’t have to be.”

Adrien reined in the urge to throw his arms around his husband and kiss Luka silly right then and there on a public street where anyone could see them. Instead, he squeezed Luka’s hand back.

“Thank you, Orpheus.”

Once they got to the palace, Adrien politely asked some of the guards to round up various advisors and have them meet in the King’s study.

“Doing okay?” Luka whispered as the monolithic obsidian door closed behind them, sealing them inside the austere, monochrome library.

Adrien blew out a sigh, going over to stand at the head of the long, glass table where Gabriel’s documents were still spread out.

“I don’t know yet,” Adrien answered honestly, resting his palms on the surface and leaning forward to stare down at the scattered papers. “I don’t think it’s really hit me yet. I’m still…struggling to process.”

Luka came over to Adrien’s side and rested a supportive hand on his back, beginning to rub comforting circles. “It’s okay. Just…hang in there. And let me know if you need anything. I’m here for you, but I don’t want to step on any toes or get in your way. I don’t know how your world works,” Luka explained sheepishly, “so I’ll just take a backseat role and follow your lead. Please tell me if there’s anything you need me to do, all right?”

“Thanks. Thank you, My Love. I will,” Adrien assured with profound gratitude as he straightened up and stepped in to press his lips to Luka’s.

The study door opened to reveal a wide-eyed Nathalie, and Adrien wasn’t certain if the cause of her surprise was that she had caught the tail end of Adrien and Luka’s kiss or if it were just his sudden appearance after six months of absence.

“Nathalie,” he breathed, breaking away from Luka.

“Your Highness,” she replied formally with a bit of a bow.

Adrien rolled his eyes, rushing over to her to envelope her in a fierce hug. “Is that any way to address a child you raised?” he scoffed into the high neck of her gown.

She smiled faintly, loosely wrapping her arms around him, patting him on the back. “Adrien,” she corrected. “I’m grateful for your safe return. The palace has been so bleak without you these past six months.”

“I missed you too,” he confessed, pulling back with a smile. “Nathalie, meet Luc.” He turned to his husband, holding out a hand for Luka to come over and take.

Obediently, Luka went to Adrien’s side, slipping his hand into his mate’s.

“Luc, this is Nathalie, my father’s…everything. I believe I’ve mentioned her?” Adrien looked up at him questioningly.

Luka nodded. “She was the one who helped your mother raise you and see to your education, right?” He turned to face Nathalie and bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Nathalie responded with an answering bow.

“Nathalie,” Adrien continued nervously, “This is Luc…my husband.”

To her credit, the sum total of Nathalie’s reaction to this news was a single blink. “…Well. I believe congratulations are in order.”

Adrien instantly relaxed, the tension draining from his body and making it feel like gelatin. “Thank you,” Adrien sighed, almost breaking into tears of relief.

“You’re welcome,” Nathalie replied neutrally, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “A word of advice: It would probably be best to issue a royal proclamation legalizing same-sex marriage. Shall I arrange it?”

Adrien blinked. “Oh. Yes, please.”

“Now?” She cocked her head to the side slightly. “It might be prudent before you introduce your husband to anyone else.”

“Yes,” Adrien decided, not wanting to chance getting Luka arrested and executed. “Please. Thank you, Nathalie.”

She was only gone five minutes before returning to announce, “Everything is in order. They’ll start announcing the new proclamation any time now.”

“Thank you,” Adrien repeated, motioning for them to move over to the armchairs and sofa positioned around a coffee table in front of the massive fireplace. “Shall we sit while we talk? I’ve probably missed a lot over the past few months.”

“You have,” Nathalie affirmed, taking one of the armchairs.

Adrien tugged Luka along to sit on the sofa beside him. “Nathalie, what happened?” Adrien entreated once they were settled. “My father…?”

Nathalie’s gaze dropped to her folded hands in her lap, a pained expression wrinkling the corners of her mouth and eyes. “Your father…”

Luka took in how pale and sick she looked. Standing, Nathalie had been a tall, solid, commanding presence. Her erect posture still gave her some gravity, even while sitting, but she looked smaller, more tired in the chair.

“…He drowned,” she finished softly.

Adrien slumped into Luka who gave him a bolstering squeeze.

“Drowned?” Adrien whispered breathlessly. “…Like my mother?”

Nathalie pursed her lips, debating how to answer.

Should she tell him how profoundly Adrien’s disappearance had affected his father? How Gabriel had turned even more brooding and withdrawn as the months stretched on without a trace of Adrien? How Adrien’s absence had reopened the wounds caused by Émilie’s death for which Gabriel still blamed himself?

Should she tell him that there had been no sign of a struggle? No sign of foul play? No wound to indicate that Gabriel had hit his head and been unconscious when he’d fallen into the water?

Luka could see the lie forming before Nathalie spoke it.

“It was an accident,” she reported. “He went for a walk out in the gardens near the reflecting pool. As best as we can tell, he must have slipped and fallen in. An accident,” Nathalie repeated, trying to sell the story.

“Oh,” Adrien breathed. “I…I’m so sorry.”

Nathalie shook her head. “Why are you apologizing, Adrien? This isn’t your fault.”

Luka could tell that she didn’t blame Adrien at least, no matter how Adrien’s absence had affected his father’s mental state.

“This is no one’s fault,” she stressed. “Accidents happen. All we can do is carry on.”

“Yes,” Adrien agreed softly, regaining some of his composure. “I just…You must be…” He shook his head, trying to clear his muddled thoughts. “I can’t imagine losing Luc…so I’m sorry. I’m sorry your grief can’t even be publicly acknowledged.”

Luka schooled his face into a non-reactive mask of neutrality. As much as Adrien had talked about Nathalie as a second mother and her role raising him, Luka hadn’t connected the dots concerning her relationship with the king.

A soft half-smile quirked Nathalie’s lips. “Thank you, Adrien, but _your_ acknowledgement is the only one that’s ever mattered.”

She went on to abruptly change subjects, pushing aside her still raw feelings and filling Adrien in concerning events at court while he had been gone.

During Nathalie’s report, several stout, balding men came in. Luka was not introduced, but he picked up on their names during the course of the conversation: Bourgeois, Raincomprix, and Damocles. They appeared to be noblemen who had served closely under King Gabriel, and it seemed that they had known Adrien his entire life, for, as much respect as they made a pretense of showing, they didn’t seem to take Adrien very seriously. It reminded Luka of the people back home who still treated _him_ like a child even now that he was grown because they had minded him for Anarka when he was little and couldn’t think of him any other way.

Luka half paid attention as Bourgeois, Raincomprix, and Damocles took turns speaking to Adrien about various official matters (with Nathalie often interrupting to clarify or correct things that the men were saying).

Adrien, on the other hand, devoted his full concentration to what he was being told, absorbing it in much the same way as he had hung on every word Anarka said to him when she was explaining government affairs.

So focused on the matter at hand was Adrien that he didn’t seem to notice when two young people slipped quietly into the room. One was a tall, tanned man about Adrien’s age in a guard’s uniform.

Luka supposed this to be Adrien’s best friend Nino, as he recalled Adrien asking for him to be sent to the study along with the advisors.

The other was a young woman with milky skin, obsidian black hair, and piercing cerulean eyes. Marinette, Luka’s mind supplied, Adrien’s seamstress and close confidante.

Adrien had failed to mention how unspeakably gorgeous Marinette was. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed, not being attracted to women. Luka thought this a shame, even though he had personally benefitted from Adrien’s oversight. The girl was lovely and much deserving of admiration.

Luka mentally slapped himself as he remembered how deliriously happy he was in his marriage. There was no need for his eyes or his thoughts to rove when he already had Adrien.

“Then we’ll arrange for the coronation ceremony to be held tomorrow,” announced the man whose chin had fused with his neck (Bourgeois, Luka thought).

“I’ll have the King’s chambers prepared for you, so that you can rest and refresh yourself from your journey, Your Majesty,” the squat man with untamed facial hair offered with a bow (Luka thought his name was Damocles). “I’ll also ask the servants to prepare a guestroom for your friend.”

Adrien frowned. “That will not be necessary. Are my chambers as I left them?”

There was a collective wince, and the noblemen shared glances, hoping that one of the others would bite the bullet and break the news to the new king.

In the end, Nathalie was the one who replied, “Your father was much upset by your disappearance. When you had been gone two months, he had your things disposed of. Your former rooms are now being used as storage.”

“I see,” Adrien replied tersely, clearly displeased and disappointed but not surprised.

He turned to Luka, explaining, “My father pushes the things that upset him away and tries to make them disappear. After my mother died, he walled up her chambers for a little over a year before I persuaded him to unseal the rooms.”

Luka nodded, recalling some of the stories Adrien had told Luka about his father and his maladaptive coping behaviors.

Adrien turned back to his advisors and sighed, “Very well. Please prepare a guestroom for us for the night. We’ll see about long-term arrangements tomorrow.”

Damocles blinked, casting a sidelong glance at Bourgeois and Raincomprix.

Raincomprix, a redhead with rapidly thinning hair that he was attempting to hide with a combover, cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, the guestrooms are not fit for a king. Please allow us to have the servants prepare the King’s chambers. We’ll see to it that your friend is very comfortably situated in our finest guestroom.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed as he fast lost patience with the bureaucracy. “I will not be sleeping in my father’s bed. If you must, please prepare my mother’s chambers, and Luc and I will sleep there.”

The three advisors shared another baffled look before Damocles helpfully informed, “There’s only one bed, Your Majesty?”

Adrien gave a snort. “Perfect. I usually share a bed with my husband.”

Luka tried not to laugh at the flummoxed expressions the men were making, and he wasn’t the only one. Adrien was doing a good job keeping a straight face as he messed with his advisors, but Nino and Marinette had their hands over their mouths, battling against the threatening giggle fit.

Luka was pleased to see that his mate’s friends looked delighted at the announcement of Adrien’s marriage.

Nathalie too was attempting to keep her expression blank, but her lips quivered slightly, fighting a smile.

“Your Majesty,” Bourgeois chuckled amicably, trying to make Adrien see reason. “You cannot have a husband. Our laws forbid it.”

“Actually, My Lord,” Nathalie interrupted, “His Majesty the King has issued a proclamation legalizing same-sex marriage.”

Marinette caught Luka’s eye as her hands fell to her sides, her jaw dropping and tears of astonished joy starting to bead in the corners of her eyes.

“His Majesty can have a husband as of approximately half an hour ago,” Nathalie concluded.

“Even still,” Raincomprix broke in, huffing in discombobulation. “They can’t be married _already_ if the proclamation is only thirty minutes old.”

“We’ve been married six months,” Adrien informed with authority. “Luc’s mother, the local clan leader of the fae of the nearby enchanted forest, performed the ceremony.”

The air seemed to freeze as the three advisors slowly slid their gazes to Luka in horror, registering the word “fae” as one man. Collectively holding their breath, they stepped back conspicuously.

Luka couldn’t contain a snicker.

The advisors flinched at the noise.

Meanwhile, Nathalie rolled her eyes at the grown men acting like frightened children.

Luka was sorely tempted to drop his glamour and let them see just how otherworldly his appearance truly was. He imagined them screaming and jumping into each other’s arms after seeing how icy blue Luka’s eyes were, how turquoise his hair, how shimmering his skin.

Bourgeois seemed to regain his wits first. He swallowed hard and gently replied, “Your Majesty, I’m afraid that we do not recognize fairy marriages as legally binding.”

“And the servants will be scandalized,” Damocles added hastily, looking like he was trying not to imagine Luka and Adrien making love and failing, “an unwed couple sharing a bed.”

Adrien turned to Nathalie. “Am I able to issue a proclamation about acknowledging fae marriages as legal?”

She nodded. “Yes, but, for appearances’ sake, it might be best if Your Majesty were to have a marriage ceremony performed before the coronation tomorrow. Since same-sex marriage is new to many people, it may help them see it as official if their king were to go through the ceremony as an example.”

Adrien began to nod, seeing her point.

“…It may also help other same-sex couples have their marriages seen as legitimate if the king goes first,” she added.

Adrien turned to Luka. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you came here for, but…would you be willing to go through a wedding ceremony with me?”

Luka reached up and cupped Adrien’s face, leaning in to nuzzle his husband’s hair. “I came here to support you in whatever way you needed support, and I will happily marry you as many times as you like.”

“Thank you,” Adrien chuckled happily, pressing his forehead to Luka’s before drawing back and turning to Nathalie. “Thank you, Nathalie. Could you please make the arrangements?”

“Right away, Your Majesty,” Nathalie responded with a seated bow.

“Wait,” Raincomprix chimed in, looking to Bourgeois and Damocles for support. “We’re not going to crown the fairy too, are we?”

Adrien turned to Luka who shrank a bit, scrunching his nose in distaste. “I really would rather that you didn’t, unless it was absolutely necessary. I have strong opinions about monarchies, and I’d rather not participate in one any more than I already have by being married to a king.”

Adrien looked at Nathalie who frowned, considering.

“…It might be best if we do crown your spouse,” she decided after some thought. “It would lend your union a feeling of legitimacy. After all, female spouses of kings are crowned beside their husbands. I think it’s important that we set a precedent that Luc is every bit the equal of a female spouse.”

Adrien turned to Luka for approval.

Luka sank lower on the couch, grumbling, “Fine. Nothing too ridiculous, though. Just give me a simple circlet.”

“Wait,” Raincomprix protested. “Are we really going to give this fairy a title?”

Adrien shot up to his feet and glared the balding redhead down, hissing, “This _fairy_ , as you call him, is my husband, and he outranks you both in this kingdom and in his own land where his mother is ruler. You will show him respect, or you will learn the hard way that I _am_ my father’s son.”

The implied threat was given extra weight by the fact that Adrien’s eyes had begun to flash a glowing, toxic green in his anger.

Raincomprix fell over backwards, landing hard on his rump.

“…Very good,” Bourgeois agreed, clasping his hands, leaning in, and ducking his head slightly as he did when he cajoled his daughter Chloé. “Now that that’s settled, may I ask what title we are to call your esteemed spouse by, Your Majesty?”

Adrien sank back down onto the couch, wrapping his arm possessively around Luka’s shoulders. “That’s…a good question,” he confessed.

Luka tipped his head towards Adrien. “What would you call me if Adrien were female?”

Damocles and Bourgeois looked at one another in puzzlement.

Nathalie frowned. “I know there is a word for it. Forgive me. I’m coming up blank at the moment.”

“Prince Consort,” Marinette spoke up, making everyone but Luka, Nino, and Nathalie jump. “A reigning queen’s husband is a ‘prince consort’.”

“Marinette!” Adrien trilled with glee as he spotted his friends. “Nino!”

“Your Majesty,” Marinette replied with a wide smile and a deep curtsey.

“Majesty,” Nino echoed with a smirk and a bow.

Adrien looked to Nathalie. “It sounds like we’re all set here. We’ll have the wedding and the coronation tomorrow evening. …Has my father already been entombed?”

Nathalie nodded wearily. “This afternoon.”

“I see,” Adrien sighed solemnly. “I’ll have to go visit him and Mother later, then…. Thank you, Nathalie. Is there anything else we need to discuss before Luc and I settle in for the night?”

“Sleeping arrangements?” Damocles inquired cautiously, afraid of awakening Adrien’s wrath.

Adrien rolled his eyes, heaving a tired exhale. “Prepare my mother’s rooms for me and my father’s rooms for Luc until we’re officially married so that we don’t…how did you phrase it? ‘Scandalize the servants’?”

“Very good, Your Majesty,” Damocles replied happily as he gave a little bow, satisfied with the outcome.

“I’ll make a list of the tasks that need to be accomplished for the wedding and the coronation and then assign duties,” Nathalie announced.

“Please let me know if you need any help,” Adrien urged. “I know things have probably been overwhelmingly busy with my father’s unexpected passing, and I don’t want to pile all of this extra work on you.”

Nathalie’s lips spread into a thin smile as she shook her head. “Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty, but I can manage. I think it’s best for me to keep busy. I’ll let you know if there are any issues, though.”

“Thank you, Nathalie,” Adrien repeated warmly before turning to Bourgeois. “Luc and I will sup in Father’s rooms tonight. Please have the kitchen send up dinner in an hour and a half.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Bourgeois replied, clicking his heels together and bowing at the waist.

“Everyone except Nino and Marinette is dismissed,” Adrien decreed with a polite nod of his head. “Thank you, everyone.”

Nathalie and the advisors filed out, and, as soon as the study door closed, Adrien sprang to his feet and ran to his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, we mustn’t scandalize the servants. *Rolls eyes* Damocles, the servants have been exposed to far more scandalous things, and they are so over it. XD
> 
> Please join me in wishing Buggy a very happy (early) birthday! Her birthday is this Thursday, 02/11/2021, so make sure you shower her in confetti. ^.^ I hope your birthday is awesome, Buggy!
> 
> These chapters back in the mortal realm have been a bit of a challenge ^.^; I’m having trouble getting them down on paper the way they are in my head, so I hope they read okay. I’m kind of unsure about the flow. ^.^;
> 
> Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought, and I’ll see you again on Sunday, 02/14/2021.
> 
> (Just FYI, I’ve got a new Lukadrien one-shot called [Where the Heart Is](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162802), if you haven’t checked it out yet.)
> 
> See you next time!


	8. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien catches up with Marinette and Nino, and Luka gets to know Adrien's friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys. I hope you're all doing well. I'm hanging in there, but I'm having a really brutal week. Thanks for checking out this chapter, and thank you so much to everyone who's commenting and leaving kudos and bookmarking the story. I sincerely appreciate your support.
> 
> I hope you'll all ignore the ever-increasing number of chapters. ^.^; I'm very close to the end, but it's taking more words and scenes than expected to wrap things up satisfactorily. I'm really happy with how it's coming along, though.
> 
> Enjoy Chapter Eight!

“Nino! Marinette!” Adrien shouted, grinning like a madman as he darted across the study and threw his arms around his two closest friends.

“Adrien!” they chorused, wrapping him in bear hugs of their own.

“I can’t tell you how much I missed you guys,” Adrien whispered into Nino’s neck, squeezing them both tighter as he remembered how he had longed for his friends while he’d been away.

“Not as much as we missed you,” Nino assured.

Marinette gave a snort. “Speak for yourself. You just had to guard him. I had to _dress_ him. Do you know how hard it is to keep this boy looking presentable?” she laughed. “He either rips or stains everything within a week of owning it. He’s impossible.”

Nino clicked his tongue. “You think dressing him is hard? You should try keeping him from getting himself killed. How do you think his clothes get ruined so regularly?”

“…Point,” Marinette conceded.

Adrien pulled back to pout at his friends. “Complain all you want, but I bet you’ve both been bored with me gone.”

Marinette and Nino shared a conspiring glance and burst out laughing.

“Guilty,” Marinette admitted. “The break was nice, but I’m ecstatic to be back in work…starting with your wedding-slash-coronation outfit!” she squealed in delight, colours and fabrics and patterns beginning to flow through her head.

“Speaking of which…” Nino tipped his head in order to look past Adrien at Luka. “I’m guessing this is your kelpie heartthrob ‘Orpheus’?”

Marinette smirked, breaking away from the boys to slowly approach Luka. “Hi. I’m Marinette. I’m sure he’s mentioned me.”

“He has,” Luka chuckled, standing and going to meet the enchanting seamstress. “It sounds like he mentioned me too.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Please. I only had to listen to him whine and mope about his supposedly ‘unrequited’ love for you for two months.”

“Marinette,” Adrien groaned, releasing his hold on Nino to go stop Marinette from further embarrassing him.

Luka quirked an eyebrow at his husband. “Two months, My Love? You sure fell for me quickly.”

“Like, the second he saw you,” Nino snickered, coming over to join the others.

“Et tu, Nino?” Adrien hissed accusatorily.

Nino shrugged.

Adrien turned his pout on Luka. “I was a mess.”

“You’re still a mess,” Luka chuckled, leaning in to give Adrien’s cheek an affectionate lick. “And I love you.”

“Aww,” Marinette cooed. “See, Adrien? I _told_ you he was into you.”

“I told him that first,” Nino grumbled. “I’m the one who told him to go for it.”

Marinette waved Nino’s protests away. “I’m the one who helped him practice confessing because it made you too flustered when he practiced confessing to you.”

“ _Nette_ ,” Nino hissed. “Stop. You’re going to give the guy’s _husband_ the wrong idea.”

Luka snickered. “I actually came to the wrong conclusion all on my own when he told me he was in love with someone. I thought he was talking about you.” He tipped his head to indicate Nino.

Nino turned to glare blandly at Adrien. “Dude. How did you screw up the confession that badly that he didn’t even know who you were talking about?”

“We spent _hours_ practicing, Adrien,” Marinette added, putting on a miffed, disappointed expression.

“In my defence, I was kind of distraught because my father had just told me I had to marry a woman I didn’t love,” Adrien whined as his friends ganged up on him.

Nino and Marinette both shook their heads unsympathetically, not letting up.

“That’s no excuse,” Nino sighed, hands going to his hips as he clicked his tongue in feigned disapproval.

Adrien crossed his arms over his chest, turning up his nose and looking away. “I don’t know why I missed you two so much. You’re both mean. My new fae friends are a lot nicer.”

“No, they’re not,” Luka snickered. “Kim and Alix regularly bully you. That’s why they’re your favourites.”

“Rose is my favourite,” Adrien corrected with a fond smile. “But, yeah. Giving each other trouble is how Nino, Marinette, and I show that we love one another, so Alix and Kim reminded me a lot of the things I missed from my old life.”

“Well, we’re glad that we count among the good things,” Nino replied, giving Adrien’s arm a pat.

“And we’re glad things have been going well for you since you left too,” Marinette added. “We kept hoping that you were happy wherever you were.”

Adrien’s face fell as a realization struck him square in the stomach. “…I didn’t say goodbye. …I didn’t tell you where I was going. Guys, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think…” He looked away. “Well, I mean, I _did_ think about it after the fact when I’d been gone a few weeks, but…I didn’t dare come back. I—”

“—Adrien,” Nino cut him off gently. “It’s fine. We kind of figured where you’d gone.”

Adrien looked back and forth between his two friends. “You didn’t worry?”

“We did,” Marinette confessed. “A little bit, but not much. Like Nino said, we guessed that you’d run off with your Orpheus, and, wherever you were, we knew you’d probably be happier than you were here.”

Adrien blushed, looking down at his feet in a mix of guilt and shame. “I was. I’m really, really happy with Luc and his family. I feel like I’ve finally found the place I’m meant to be…the person I want to work towards becoming. I’m really happy in the enchanted forest.”

“Good,” Nino responded warmly, giving Adrien’s arm a supportive squeeze. “Maybe send us an ‘I’m not dead’ message next time…but good. I’m really glad that you found your place, Man.”

“Me too,” Marinette seconded.

“I’d love to show you my home.” Adrien perked up. “And introduce you to my new friends.”

He turned to Marinette. “You’ll love my sister-in-law Rose. She’s the sweetest, funniest person. And Mylène and Max and Ondine. And Alya.”

He looked to Nino. “I have got to introduce you to Alya. She’s a fox spirit who’s really fascinated with human affairs. She comes into the city a lot to people watch. I bet she would love some humans to talk to and ask questions.”

Adrien stopped abruptly, turning to his husband. “Orpheus, would it be okay for Marinette and Nino to visit me, or would they just wind up getting killed? Everyone back in the woods is perfectly civil with me, but…”

Luka pursed his lips as he considered the scenario. “I’d have to consult with Maman, but I think it might be okay if it’s just a short visit. Maybe a few hours tops. And they’d have to be chaperoned at all times.”

“Is it really so dangerous?” Nino inquired, quirking an eyebrow dubiously. “ _Adrien’s_ not in danger, is he?”

“No,” Luka quickly assured. “Adrien is fine. He’s protected, and the people mostly adore him. He’s a member of our community now. The forest is deadly to outsiders, though, so it would be unwise for either of you to waltz in unaccompanied. My people can be cruel and senselessly violent.”

Nino hummed curiously. “…Sorry if this is rude, but you don’t really look…threatening.”

“I was actually thinking the same thing,” Marinette sheepishly admitted. “You just look like a regular person.”

Luka snorted in laughter. “That would be the glamour you’re seeing. …Shall I drop it?”

Nino looked to Adrien. “Is he scary or something? I thought you told me he was the most beautiful man you’d ever seen.”

Adrien shook his head. “Beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it. He’s _ethereal_.”

Marinette addressed Luka tentatively. “Do you mind, Luc? Sorry. We don’t mean to treat you like a curiosity. We—”

In the blink of an eye, Luka’s black hair was replaced by pale blue, and his eyes seemed to give off a Caribbean teal glow. The entirety of his being seemed to shimmer a bit, like sunlight reflecting off of a lake.

“Oh, wow,” Marinette gasped. “You…wow.”

“Yeah,” Nino gulped. “Wow is…” He turned to Adrien, whispering sotto voce, “Do all fae look that pretty?”

“Not all of them,” Adrien chuckled, amused by his friends’ reactions. “I’ve met a lot of attractive people in the forest, though.”

Luka’s eyes narrowed in displeasure and suspicion. “Like who? Kim?”

“Easy,” Adrien snickered, turning to face Luka and looping his arms around Luka’s waist. “No one is even half as attractive as you.”

Luka smiled into the kiss as Adrien pressed his lips to Luka’s in a vow of fidelity.

“Yeah, it’s highly unlikely Adrien will stray,” Nino testified. “He’s very loyal and takes matters of the heart incredibly seriously.”

“And he doesn’t fall in love easily,” Marinette agreed, nodding along to Nino’s points.

Luka arched an eyebrow at a blushing Adrien. “He doesn’t? I thought you two said he fell for me on sight.”

“Yeah, but that was the first and only time in nineteen years,” Marinette explained, waving away any concerns Luka might have. “And it’s not like it was for want of suitors. He grew up around plenty of pretty young nobles.”

Adrien’s face burned redder as Luka looked at him in astonishment, whispering, “I’m your first love?”

“First, last, and only,” Adrien mumbled, averting his gaze to help himself feel less transparent.

Luka wrapped his arms around Adrien as he gave him an affectionate squeeze. “I may have had other loves, but you’re the first person to turn my world upside down and wreck me. I had to update my definition of the word love when I met you.”

“I accept your attempts to butter me up,” Adrien chuckled, turning his head to press a kiss to Luka’s cheek.

“Aww,” Nino cooed. “Why can’t I meet someone who says sweet crap like that to me?”

“Maybe things will take a romantic turn between you and Adrien’s fox friend,” Marinette snickered.

Nino hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe. All I know is that I need to find someone to be that disgustingly cute with as soon as possible.”

“You two _are_ adorable,” Marinette confirmed. “I can tell you’ve been really good for him,” she informed Luka with a tone of gratitude. “Just seeing him talking in that meeting earlier was a positive change.”

Luka arched an eyebrow, looking back and forth between Adrien and Marinette. “Really? He didn’t seem any different than usual to me.”

“Mec, the way he shut Viscount Raincomprix _down_ when he was disrespecting you?” Nino had to try hard to contain another giggle fit as he called up the memory. “Nice spine, Your Majesty,” Nino chuckled, giving Adrien’s arm an appreciative punch. “It suits you.”

Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck. “As much as I’ve wanted to put those three blowhards in their place my entire life, I think I may have gone a bit too far. Viscount Raincomprix has been kind to me in the past, and I think I owe him an apology. He really looked shaken when I told him off.”

“I think that was mostly due to your eyes glowing like that,” Marinette weighed in.

“Yeah,” Nino agreed. “That was, perhaps, a bit much. It was super cool, though.”

Adrien blinked at his friends dumbly. “What are you guys talking about?”

Nino and Marinette shared a look.

“When your eyes were all molten and glow-y,” Nino clarified slowly, looking at Adrien expectantly.

Adrien turned to Luka. “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

Luka bit the inside of his cheek, avoiding his mate’s gaze. “…Your eyes may have started to glow whenever you’re experiencing intense emotions,” he reluctantly admitted.

“What?!” Adrien demanded, gaping at his husband incredulously. “Since when?! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

Luka winced, shoulders rising up to meet his ears as he shamefacedly confessed, “It started a couple months ago. I asked Maman, and it’s completely benign, and I thought it would only upset you, so I didn’t say anything.”

“I feel like…this is the kind of thing you mention?” Adrien choked, voice high and tight as he collapsed back down onto the couch.

“Dri, I’m sorry,” Luka cooed, sitting next to Adrien and tentatively cupping his cheek. “I should have said something, but I didn’t want to upset you when there was nothing we could do about it and it wasn’t hurting anything.”

“Well,” Adrien responded quietly, “I’m upset now…sort of.”

He took a deep breath and turned his gaze on his husband. “I’m more upset that you didn’t tell me than anything. Since when do we keep secrets from one another?”

Luka looked away, cowed. “We don’t,” he whispered penitently. “I’m so sorry, My Little Prince.”

Adrien leaned in to give Luka’s cheek a lick of forgiveness. “Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t. I promise,” Luka swore.

Satisfied, Adrien nodded, looking to Nino. “Does it at least look cool, or am I just terrifying?”

“I thought it was cool,” Marinette volunteered, going to sit in the armchair that Nathalie had recently vacated.

“Totally cool,” Nino affirmed, taking the other chair. He looked at Luka. “Can he do anything else?”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed at his mate.

Luka laughed, shaking his head. “Not at this point. Just the glowing eyes. Maybe in a few years new powers will manifest. I don’t personally know any other humans who have lived long-term among the fair folk, so I’m not quite sure what to expect, but this is hardly a unique situation. My people have been adopting mortals for centuries, so Adrien is hardly the first.”

“Something to look forward to, I suppose? Random new features,” Adrien sighed. “I mean, if these changes aren’t going to hurt anything, that’s fine, but…” He shifted uncomfortably.

“You’re upset,” Luka surmised, his mood plummeting.

Adrien shook his head, trying to reassure his mate. “No. Not really. Just…I felt like I had finally found my place, like I was getting my feet underneath me. …But since learning of my father’s death, it’s like I’ve been on shifting ground, and this is just one more thing to get used to. I’ll manage, but…I’m feeling a little overwhelmed today.”

“Understandably so,” Luka replied, slipping his arm around Adrien and resting his head against his mate’s. “Just tell me what you need, and I’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen.”

“Maybe just a break. A little joviality?” Adrien suggested, looking around at his spouse and his friends. “Nino. Say something funny.”

Nino balked. “What? On command? Adrien, I’m not the court jester. I can’t just say witty things at the drop of a hat.”

“I don’t know,” Marinette snickered. “You do a pretty good job of playing the fool any other time.”

Nino gasped, feigning indignation. “Adrien, do you hear what this mean, spiteful woman is saying about me? Defend my honor or something already.”

“Marinette, it is rather mean to say that to his face,” Adrien attempted to admonish with a straight face but ended up chuckling, ruining the effect.

“What can I say?” She grinned. “Real friends stab you in the front.”

“Thanks,” Nino replied dryly. “I really appreciate that….” He perked up after a beat. “…Say, why don’t we talk about Adrien’s adventures in fairy land? That should be fun, right? Tell us about all the weird stuff,” Nino urged, turning to Adrien with wide, hopeful eyes.

Marinette started to bounce in her seat in excitement. “What are the clothes like? Tell me all about fae fashion.”

Adrien acquiesced, sharing his impressions of his experiences as Marinette and Nino asked probing questions for nearly half an hour.

Luka mostly just listening, fascinated by Adrien’s perspective on things. He did, occasionally, field a few questions himself or add some clarification on things that Adrien was unsure about.

They eventually came to discuss Luka and Adrien’s fae wedding ceremony, and that led Marinette (after she had pumped them both dry of information) to remark, “You know, I should really get to work on the outfits for tomorrow’s wedding-slash-coronation. I have less than twenty-four hours, and, even if I pull an all-nighter, it’s going to be intense.”

She pursed her lips and studied Adrien. “Your father had actually instructed me to begin preparations of your wedding clothes before you left, and he had me continue work in the hopes that you would be found in time to marry on schedule, so I already have an outfit prepared for you. I just need to make alterations…unless you want a new outfit specifically for your marriage to Luc? Either way is fine.”

She tipped her head to the side and awaited his response.

He waved the idea away. “I’m sure that whatever you already have made is perfect, Marinette. We’ll just need something for Luc.”

Marinette hesitated before inquiring, “Would it be okay if I took your measurements, Luc? It’ll be real quick.”

Luka shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever’s necessary. Did you mean now, or…?”

“I actually have my tape measure with me, so…” she informed, smiling sheepishly as she pulled it out of her belt.

Luka shrugged again, untangling himself from Adrien and standing up. “Let’s do it, then. How do you want me?”

Nino snorted, muttering, “That’s what he said.”

Adrien rolled his eyes at his best friend. “Stop thinking indecent thoughts about my husband.”

Nino put his hands up in a placating gesture. “Hey, Man. It’s not my fault that your husband is hot.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Adrien purred, admiring the view as Luka walked past.

Marinette motioned for Luka to come over closer to the fireplace where the light was better. “…Nino’s thinking it, so I’m just going to ask: Who tops?”

Nino clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out in astounded giggles.

“Marinette,” Adrien whined, face going phoenix red.

Luka smirked puckishly. “Mostly him, but we experiment according to whatever feels right in the moment.”

“Orpheuuuuus,” Adrien hissed in mortification.

Luka clicked his tongue even as he held still so that Marinette could take her measurements. “No need to be embarrassed, My Love. Is it not acceptable in your culture to talk about one’s love life?”

“Adrien is just sheltered,” Nino assured. “Please go on.”

“Is he a good lover?” Marinette inquired, sticking her tongue out at Adrien who let out a horrified squeal.

“Very,” Luka snickered. “In all the ways that really matter. He’s enthusiastic but attentive, adventurous but—”

“—Luuuc,” Adrien wailed. “Please stop. This really isn’t funny.”

“Speak for yourself,” Nino cackled. “I’m having a great time.”

“I hate you,” Adrien informed sulkily.

“Hey, Marinette’s the one over there pretty much begging for a demonstration,” Nino kindly threw his friend under the bus.

Luka choked on a laugh, the convulsion interrupting Marinette in the middle of her measurement so that she had to restart that portion.

“Be nice, Nino,” Marinette grumbled, suddenly losing her good humor.

Nino immediately sobered, backing off with a muttered, “Sorry, Nette.”

Marinette nodded mutely, pointedly focusing on the work at hand.

There was a tense silence hovering in the air until Nino got up and went over to sit on the sofa next to Adrien. The two cuddled up like puppies, and Nino recommenced catching up with his friend, sharing details from his own life that Adrien had missed in his absence.

Luka was content to listen as he watched Marinette at her work. He caught her looking over to the couch several times, a warm, affectionate, and yet melancholy quality to her gaze.

Luka’s eyes narrowed as he determined that she was sneaking looks at Adrien, and a cold realization turned Luka’s blood to cement.

“Forgive me for asking,” he whispered so softly that Nino and Adrien couldn’t hear over their own conversation. “but there wouldn’t happen to be something between you and Adrien, would there?”

Marinette gave a start, her fingers slipping, losing their place on the measuring tape.

“Sorry,” Luka quickly backpedaled. “It’s none of my business. It’s just the way you were looking at him, I…”

“O-Oh.” She nervously cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. “No. No, it’s fine. I…It’s nothing, honestly. Nothing you need to be concerned about, anyway. It’s all in the past,” she confessed in a whisper. “You’d be hard pressed to find someone who _hasn’t_ been in love with Adrien at some point or another. I fell for him when I was thirteen, but…”

She paused, shaking her head and remeasuring from Luka’s hip to his shoulder. “I long ago came to terms with the fact that even if I had been born of his social station and become his wife, he would never feel for me the way that I used to feel for him. I was the first person he told about his attraction to men, and, after that, I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow myself to be miserable because of him. I also promised to do everything in my power to help him find happiness, so…”

She looked up at him, meeting Luka’s heavenly blue eyes with her marine ones, a fierce determination glowing from within. “I have never seen him as happy as he’s been since falling in love with you. Looking at him now, it makes my heart almost want to burst. I’m feeling a little nostalgic,” she admitted with a soft smile as she went back to taking measurements, “but I’ve moved on. I have someone wonderful in my life, so I have my own happiness. I don’t begrudge you yours, even though you have something I once wanted.”

“Good.” Luka breathed out his nerves. “You’re a very important friend to Adrien, and I wouldn’t want to be a cause of tension between you. You and Nino are extremely precious to him, and I don’t want to cause problems.”

Marinette shook her head, assuring, “You have nothing to worry about on my account.”

She raised her voice and added, “ _Nino_ is the one still hopelessly in love with Adrien. _He’s_ the one you should worry about.”

Nino’s head snapped up, and he glared at his friend. “Nette, are you trying to make the king’s kelpie husband jealous so that he kills me or something? I am _not_ in love with Adrien. Things are strictly platonic between us.”

Luka couldn’t help a stifled snicker. “Says the guy with my mate half in his lap.”

Adrien pressed the heel of his hand to his lips to keep in his own giggles at Nino’s expense.

“This is platonic snuggling,” Nino insisted, affronted by the accusation. “Do the fae not snuggle with friends?”

“Yes,” Luka conceded, “but are you trying to tell me that there’s nothing sexual about two guys on a couch with their limbs all entwined like that? This feels suspect to me.”

“Completely platonic,” Nino reasserted.

“Come on, Nino,” Marinette teased. “You know you would die for him.”

“Platonically!” Nino denied. “I’m his guard. It’s what guards do.”

Marinette turned to Luka with a cat-like smirk. “Nino was Adrien’s first kiss.”

“False!” Nino exclaimed, tan complexion going latte light as the blood drained from his face.

“Actually, Marinette was my first kiss,” Adrien finally spoke up in Nino’s defence.

Luka cocked an accusatory eyebrow at Marinette who grinned nervously.

“I told her about my suspicions that I was gay and asked if I could run an experiment to see if I felt anything when I kissed her,” Adrien explained, his cheeks colouring in shame.

“He told me that if there were any girl he could come to have feelings for, it would be me,” Marinette snickered, shaking her head. “The silver-tongued snake.”

Luka whistled, shooting Adrien an incredulous expression. “It sounds like my little prince was quite the cad as a youth.”

“Guilty,” Adrien groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I was confused, and I didn’t know who else to turn to. And I wholeheartedly believed what I said. I just didn’t realize yet that being gay wasn’t something you could ‘fix’ like my parents insisted, so… I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“—Shh,” Nino interrupted, gently prying Adrien’s hands away from his face. “No one’s mad at you. Nette and I both enjoyed helping you out with your experiments. No harm done. We’re all just joking. Okay?”

Adrien looked from Marinette to Nino to Luka, and they each nodded.

Adrien blew out a slow breath, beginning to nod as well. “…Okay. Good. I just…still feel bad about that period when I was trying to figure myself out. I did some things I’m not proud of.”

“Shhh.” Nino pulled Adrien in closer for a hug as he called to the others, “You two get over here and snuggle too.”

Marinette tucked away her measuring tape and went at once to squeeze in on the sofa on Adrien’s opposite side, wrapping her arms around Adrien and Nino, assuring, “There’s nothing to feel bad about. No one’s hurt. Nothing’s broken.”

Luka came up along the back side of the couch and leaned over to nuzzle Adrien’s hair. “Listen to your friends, My Love. They’ve already forgiven whatever needed to be forgiven.”

“Thanks, guys,” Adrien whispered, letting go of his worries.

They remained in their cuddle pile in comfortable, warm silence for nearly a full minute before Marinette spoke.

“Wanna hear a secret?”

“What secret?” Adrien responded curiously.

“I’m seeing someone,” Marinette confessed tentatively, a giddy excitement bubbling just under the surface.

“Ah. Her imaginary boyfriend,” Nino snickered. “You’ve been on about him for years, Nette. Does mystery boy finally have a name or something?”

“Be nice,” Adrien chastened, giving Nino a light smack on the arm before turning his attention back to Marinette. “Is this the same guy you’ve mentioned before? Your mysterious nobleman?”

Marinette nodded shyly, taking a breath before announcing, “Her name is Kagami.”

Nino and Adrien’s jaws dropped.

Luka arched an eyebrow. “Is this the same Kagami that Adrien fences with?”

Marinette smiled nervously and nodded. “Yep. We’ve been together officially for three years now.”

“Holy crap,” Nino finally got out. “Nette, how the hell did you keep this a secret this long?”

Marinette shrugged. “People really aren’t as suspicious of two women spending a lot of time alone together as they would be a man and a woman. We used the pretext of me making clothes for her a lot in order to meet.”

Adrien blinked, still stunned at this revelation. “Wow…that’s…I’m really happy that you’ve found someone. That both you and Kagami are happy. I mean, besides my mothers, there’re no women I esteem higher than you two.”

“Thank you,” Marinette breathed in relief, feeling lighter now that she had the secret off of her chest.

Adrien bit his lip. “I just wish you had mentioned… I never suspected that you… Why did you never say anything? When I was busy lamenting my cursed fate to be alone and not know love my entire life, you could have said something,” he pressed, unable to hide the twinge of hurt in his voice.

Marinette shook her head. “I’m like Nino. I can be happy with a man or a woman, so no one ever had to know I wasn’t quote-unquote ‘normal’. My situation wasn’t like yours, so I didn’t feel I had any business making things about me when you were hurting so deeply.”

Adrien studied his friend intently for a long moment before sighing and resting his head on her shoulder. “…You still should have said something.”

She looked back and forth between Nino and Adrien before bowing her head, suitably chastened. “You’re right. I should have said something. There was never a good time, though, and then it felt like I couldn’t say anything because I’d waited too long.”

“Well, at least you’re telling us now,” Nino reasoned, giving Marinette’s arm a supportive pat. “Congrats. We’re happy for you.”

“I’m going to have to get to know Kagami better now,” Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “I thought I knew her, but I was obviously wrong.”

“She definitely has layers,” Marinette giggled.

Adrien tipped his head back and looked at Luka, still standing behind the sofa. “You’re not feeling left out, are you? I feel like we’re being exclusive.”

“You’re fine, My Love,” Luka chuckled, giving Adrien’s hair a loving pet. “I’m enjoying getting to see you with your friends. You know I’m an introvert and don’t necessarily need to be the center of the conversation.”

“Just let us know if we’re being too in-group-y,” Nino urged, giving Luka an amicable grin. “You’re family now, and we want you to feel welcome and comfortable with us.”

“What he said,” Marinette seconded.

“Thank you,” Luka replied earnestly, making his way over to the armchair closest to the fireplace. “But I promise you that I’m very low maintenance. Please continue your conversation. I don’t need to be included in everything so long as I eventually get my husband back from you to cuddle with him myself.”

“Cool,” Nino chuckled. “We can definitely agree to those terms.”

Silent snuggling continued for a few minutes until Marinette spoke up once more.

“Adrien, did I hear right? Did you make a royal decree legalizing same-sex marriage?” she inquired, holding her breath in anticipation.

“Uh…yeah. Yeah, Nathalie took care of that earlier. She said that people would start announcing it right away, so the news should be getting out by now,” he confirmed.

Marinette gave a trill of joy. “I’m going to ask Kagami to marry me.”

“Dude, wait,” Nino insisted. “We haven’t even vetted her yet.”

Adrien elbowed Nino in the stomach. “That’s _awesome_ , Marinette. You’ll have to let me know when the wedding will be so I can come back for the ceremony.”

Nino and Marinette blinked in tandem and then shared a look.

“Wait. What do you mean ‘come back’?” Nino asked slowly, a feeling of dread knotting the pit of his stomach. “Aren’t you…like… _already_ back?”

Adrien winced.

Marinette’s joyful expression abruptly diminished as her forehead furrowed. “You’re not staying here, are you?”

Adrien shook his head.

“You’re going back to the forest,” Nino whispered as understanding dawned upon him.

Adrien nodded.

There was a heavy moment of silence.

“…How long do we have?” Marinette inquired, voice sounding brittle as she tried to mask her sadness and pain at the thought of losing her closest friend all over again. “How long before you go back?”

“I don’t know,” Adrien confessed. “Not long. I only returned because I feared that the kingdom would descend into chaos and dictatorship in my absence after my father’s sudden passing. I’ll stay until I see a peaceful transfer of power and feel confident that my people will be okay without me.”

“It sounds like we’ve still got some time, then,” Nino remarked, trying to be optimistic. “We should…We should make the most of it, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Marinette whispered, snuggling in closer to Adrien.

“Yeah,” Adrien agreed, squeezing his friends tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “True friends stab you in the front.” is a quotation of Oscar Wilde. That man was a genius. I visited his grave once.
> 
> Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had a lot of fun with the interactions between Nino, Adrien, and Marinette. Was there a part in particular that you liked best? How about a line that made you laugh? In any case, I hope you found the scene entertaining.
> 
> Thank you for reading, guys. Take care, and I'll see you again on Sunday, 02/21/2021. Leave me a comment because I'd love to hear from you. ^.^


	9. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien continues to confront his past, and Luka does his best to support his husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. I hope you're doing well. This weekend passed by too quickly, didn't it? Thank you for joining me for another chapter of Among the Wild Things, and thank you so much to all of you who have been supporting the work with comments, kudos, and bookmarks. <3
> 
> I hope you enjoy Chapter Nine.
> 
> Warning: So, is anyone squeamish about dead bodies? I didn't ever have to think about this in my last fandom because it was a murder mystery/detective anime, but while I was writing this, it occurred to me that Adrien's flashback of finding his mother dead might upset people. It's not graphic, but it's sudden, and I don't want to surprise anyone, so there's a part about three-quarters of the way into the chapter where a paragraph is bolded. If you’re squeamish about dead bodies, when you get to the line in bold that starts, “The door opened”, read that line and then skip the next paragraph down to the next line in bold a paragraph later, “Luka turned on the bathroom light” and read on from there.

Nino, Adrien, and Marinette continued to snuggle in subdued silence for a few minutes more until Nino took it upon himself to lighten the atmosphere by asking Marinette about what kind of outfit she was going to design for Luka for the wedding-slash-coronation the following day.

Marinette launched into an impassioned doctoral dissertation on the designs she had in mind that would match the outfit she had already created for Adrien while also suiting Luka.

Luka, Adrien, and Nino stopped her every so often to ask questions and seek clarification.

Soon, the lively discussion turned to mortal wedding customs and the order of the ceremony.

Adrien explained that Nathalie would make sure that Luka knew everything he needed for the ceremony, but the three humans took turns describing aspects of the event and answering Luka’s questions.

Nearly an hour had passed when Adrien’s stomach rumbled, and the young king was reminded that it had been hours since he’d last eaten.

Bidding a fond farewell to Nino and Marinette and assuring them that they would meet again soon, Adrien and Luka made their way to the King’s chambers where dinner was waiting for them.

“The kitchen made your favourite dishes, Your Majesty,” Chef Cheng announced, bowing as he removed the dish covers with a flourish.

Luka (with his glamour back up) gawked openly at the feast in miniature set before them on the small table near the windows in the King’s chambers. There was a wide assortment of vegetable and seafood dishes, curries, salads, hummuses, and bread…and a tiered tray of bite-sized desserts to round out the meal. Luka found himself astounded by the variety of colours and textures partnered with the heady yet pleasing mix of spices.

“Thank you, Shifu,” Adrien responded with a wide grin overflowing with gratitude as he scooped up some of the lemon and rosemary hummus with a slice of pita still steaming fresh from the oven. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed your food. Please give the kitchen my thanks.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Chef Cheng assured, glowing with pride at Adrien’s show of appreciation. “It is our honor to serve you. Please enjoy your meal.”

With another bow, the great chef took his leave, and Adrien greedily bit into his pita.

The food seemed to turn to dirt in his mouth, leaving Adrien choking.

“My Love? What’s wrong?” Luka entreated, getting to his feet and hurrying around the table to his husband’s side, his hand going to rest on Adrien’s back between his shoulder blades.

Adrien reached for his wine goblet, taking a large swallow of the liquid and nearly spiting it out again just as fast.

“It tastes like over-steeped tea,” he choked, staring at the spread of food with a look of utter betrayal.

“Oh, no…” Luka breathed as he realized what had happened. “You can’t eat mortal food anymore after consuming fairy food for so long. I’m so sorry, Adrien. I completely forgot.”

“Me too,” Adrien muttered mournfully, picking up a pickled radish and taking a tentative bite. He cringed as the expected acidity of the vinegar failed to materialize on his tongue, replaced instead by the taste and texture of hay.

He looked up at Luka. “Does it taste this bad for you too?”

Luka scooped up a creampuff from the dessert tray and popped it into his mouth. “…It’s fine. Light, flakey exterior…subtly sweet, creamy interior.”

Adrien grabbed a mini pain au chocolat, biting into it in desperation.

He waited for semisweet chocolate to coat his tongue and bring back the usual rush of memories of his childhood…but the pastry was gritty in his mouth.

His hand fell away from his lips, and the pain au chocolat landed with a bounce, leaving crumbs and a smear of chocolate on the pristine tablecloth.

“Adrien?” Luka called gently, concern building with every passing second.

Adrien fought to keep his breathing steady as his heartrate picked up, a wave of panic overtaking him. “…I used to eat those with my mom.”

“Oh, Adrien,” Luka cooed, his heart breaking as tears began to spill over his mate’s cheeks. “Little Prince, it’s going to be okay,” he promised, pulling Adrien out of the chair and into his arms, holding his husband tight, holding him together.

Adrien choked on a sob, wrapping his own arms around Luka and squeezing to keep himself grounded. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize… I’m sorry. It’s just food. It’s not important. I haven’t even thought about pain au chocolat this whole time. I just…”

“Shhh.” Luka gently started to sway, rocking Adrien from side to side. “It’s okay, Adrien. It’s going to be okay. If it helps, Alya’s mother is an exceptional chef. We can figure out how to make the foods that are important to you. You haven’t lost anything. Okay?”

Slowly, Adrien started to nod, mentally grabbing onto Luka’s words like a life raft. “Okay,” he agreed shakily. “Yeah. That…That’s a good idea. We can ask her when we get back home. Sorry. I’m just feeling a little emotional being back here.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Luka whispered, nuzzling Adrien’s hair comfortingly. “I get it. I’m sure being back here dredges up a lot of old memories for you, and there’s a lot going on at the moment with your father’s death and everything. It’s okay to feel raw right now…. I’ve got you.”

Adrien tipped his head up to lick Luka’s cheek in gratitude. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Luka assured, returning the lick lovingly. He paused, noting, “You taste like you did that day I first licked you…. You were crying then too.”

“I cried all the time back then,” Adrien chuckled ironically.

“It made me think you were fragile…that I needed to protect you,” Luka hummed, reflecting. “But you’re not, and I don’t.”

“What if I want you to?” Adrien chuckled, tears gradually drying up as Luka continued to bring him back into the present moment.

“Don’t you have a guard to protect you, though?” Luka teased. “Nino has the biggest [queerplatonic](https://mogai.fandom.com/wiki/Queerplatonic) crush on you. He’d be happy to do the job.”

Adrien leaned in, touching his nose lightly to Luka’s. He then shook his head so that he was nuzzling his husband as he pretended to pout, “No. I want _you_ to protect me.”

“You’re very persuasive,” Luka observed, tipping his head to lower his lips to Adrien’s.

The kiss slowly deepened and picked up intensity until Luka began to wonder if they were skipping dinner and going straight to bed.

But then Adrien’s stomach noisily groaned in protest, threatening to eat itself if no other suitable substitute was offered to slake its hunger.

Luka pulled back with a chuckle, making Adrien whine almost as loudly as his stomach. “Later, Love,” he snickered. “First, we need to feed you. I’ll run back home and grab you something edible until we can make other arrangements to keep you nourished for the duration of our stay.”

“No!” Adrien cried in a sudden fright, tightening his hold on his husband. “Please,” he added in a more level, composed tone. “Sorry. Please don’t leave me. I don’t think I can take being alone here right now, not even for half an hour.”

Luka pursed his lips, studying the worry lines cutting into Adrien’s face. “Adrien, you can’t deal with all this on an empty stomach. Water should be fine for you to drink, but what are you going to eat?”

“There’s plenty of food,” Adrien argued, tipping his head back towards the myriad dishes covering the table. He tried not to cringe as he took it all in. “I’ll just…”

“What?” Luka snorted lightly. “Choke it down?”

“…Yeah,” Adrien sighed in resignation, breaking away from Luka to rescue the rest of the pain au chocolat he had earlier dropped.

He closed his eyes, imagined the burst of flavor that he should be experiencing, took a bite…and tasted dust. His eyes began to water as he forced himself to chew and swallow.

“Oh, My Love,” Luka cooed sympathetically, gathering Adrien into his arms and pulling him down to sit on Luka’s lap in the red velvet armchair. He rubbed Adrien’s back encouragingly as the repatriated king sullenly consumed his dinner.

It was slow going, but, eventually, Adrien managed to eat a sufficient amount to quiet his stomach and keep himself going.

“I feel sick,” he whimpered into Luka’s neck.

The kelpie continued to run his hand up and down his husband’s back, making the soothing whickering and whinnying sounds Adrien liked so much.

Adrien had told Luka once that the sounds reminded him of the horses in the royal stables that he had befriended and often talked to about his problems.

“I’m sorry, My Love,” Luka whispered.

“Don’t be sorry,” Adrien sighed, reluctantly disentangling himself from Luka and getting to his feet. “I brought this upon myself. It’s not like it’s your fault.”

Luka grimaced as a stab of guilt pierced his chest. “Isn’t it, though? In a way, at least? If not for me, you’d still be able to enjoy this food.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and gave his head a toss. “If not for you, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this food because I’d be living a purposeless life without freedom and full of misery.”

Luka hummed thoughtfully at this new perspective. “Well…if you put it like that…”

“Exactly,” Adrien snorted. He then seemed to get distracted by dark thoughts as he looked to the chamber’s double doors. “…I suppose I should make a show of retiring to the Queen’s rooms so that we don’t scandalize the servants.”

Luka’s eyes narrowed as he picked up on the hint of fear in Adrien’s tone.

He stood, placing his own hand on top of the hand Adrien had rested on the table. “Something wrong, Little Prince?”

Adrien turned his head to look at Luka, and Luka saw that Adrien’s lips were quivering almost imperceptibly as he entreated, “Come with me, please? I don’t know if I can…” He paused and took a breath, trying to wrangle his flighty thoughts. “I haven’t been in my mother’s rooms in years. Not even after I convinced Father to open them back up again after he’d initially walled them up right after her death. I wasn’t ever able to do more than peek inside, so…” He shook his head, screwing his eyes closed. “I think this is going to be another one of those things that makes me emotional.”

“Shh,” Luka cooed, lacing his fingers through Adrien’s and giving his hand a squeeze to reassure him of Luka’s presence. “Of course. I’m with you.”

“I feel so stupid,” Adrien laughed at himself, an unkind bark. “I’m acting like such a baby.”

Luka tipped up Adrien’s chin with a finger, making Adrien meet his loving, empathetic gaze. “You are the strongest, bravest person I know. In the Couffaine family, we tend not to confront problems. We pretend they’re not there or we avoid them or run away from them. We don’t take responsibility or ownership. _You_ , though,” he chuckled, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief. “You chose to uproot your life, leave your happiness behind, and come back here to deal with other people’s problems because you care about what happens to your subjects. You didn’t have to do that, Adrien.”

“Yes, I did,” Adrien argued, blinking in confusion. “This is my kingdom. What happens to it and its people is my direct concern.”

Luka continued to shake his head. “It’s really not,” he informed. “Your sense of duty and decency tells you that it is. My Love, you could have stayed home and let the kingdom figure out things on its own. You didn’t have to come here…but you did anyway because you’re a good, compassionate person. I can’t convey how much I admire you for that.”

Adrien looked to the side with a blush, warmth spreading from his cheeks outwards as he was unable to face the intensity of the emotions in Luka’s eyes, unable to deal with the way Luka’s expression made him feel.

“You’re here confronting all these issues head on when I would have looked the other way and pretended that it didn’t concern me. You have carte blanche to cry however much you need to cry,” Luka informed insistently. “You have every right to panic or shut down or respond however you need to respond because you’re here facing your demons, and that’s about the hardest thing a person can do…and I think the world of you for having the courage to come back here and do this.”

“How do you always do that?” Adrien laughed weakly, on the verge of tears even as he smiled and slipped his arms around his mate.

“Do what?” Luka quirked an eyebrow curiously.

“Make me feel like I’m an amazing person worth loving and not a pathetic waste of space,” Adrien snickered.

Luka squeezed Adrien protectively, mentally cursing Adrien’s parents for failing to instill in their child any sense of self-worth.

“Easy,” Luka whispered into Adrien’s hair. “It’s just a matter of showing you the truth, replacing those nasty lies about yourself you’ve believed your whole life. It’s easy to believe the truth.”

Adrien hummed softly in thought for a moment. “You make me feel like it really is the truth.”

“Would I lie to you?” Luka challenged without heat.

“…I don’t think so,” Adrien realized.

“Then it stands to reason that I’m telling you the truth,” Luka pointed out.

Adrien laughed, an ironic puff of air so soft Luka might have missed it.

“Yeah,” the young king whispered, pulling back with a cloudy smile. “I guess I’m still learning to see myself the way you see me and not the way that people _here_ saw me.”

Luka squeezed Adrien’s hand. “You’ll get there in time. I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you,” Adrien stressed, gratitude shining in his eyes.

They stayed there, suspended in that moment, for a long beat, and then Adrien gave Luka’s hand a reciprocal squeeze before letting go and going over to the wall by one of the large, oak bookcases.

Luka arched an eyebrow as Adrien reached up and took hold of one of the brass sconces, pulling it down.

With a groan of unoiled hinges that hadn’t seen use in years, a hidden door swung open, granting passage into the room next door.

“Oh, wow,” Luka laughed, taken by surprise. “These old castles actually have secret passages? I thought that was just in the human tales.”

“This place is full of secret passages and hidden doorways,” Adrien snickered impishly, motioning for Luka to follow him. “How do you think I used to sneak around without getting caught?”

“I assumed your attendants felt sorry for you and looked the other way,” Luka snorted, stepping through into the Queen’s chambers.

Adrien stopped just inside the doorway and looked around, all manner of mirth falling away in an instant as nostalgia hit him hard.

Luka stood by his husband’s side and took in the room with interest.

It was quaint and yet stately, comfy yet decorous. The furnishings were mainly in the [Victorian style](https://www.google.com/search?q=victorian+style+furniture&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS779US779&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5o6-V96vuAhXSKs0KHV_iCR0Q_AUoAnoECBsQBA&cshid=1611194584885769&biw=1366&bih=625) with a few [Second Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_style) pieces. The walls were papered a soft, avocado green with intricate floral designs, and the furniture was upholstered in shades ranging from pear to muted wasabi.

It was a calm, dignified room—nothing like the brazen, authoritarian scarlets, garnets, and vermillions that had reigned imposingly in the King’s chambers.

“Your mother had good taste,” Luka quietly observed. “It has a cheerful, serene atmosphere.”

Adrien nodded, taking an unsteady step forward like a sleepwalker. He went over to the sitting area by the empty fireplace and ran a hand along the back of the settee, remembering when he had sat there with his mother, taking tea, when he was a child.

“She brought most of this over with her when she came from England,” Adrien explained softly. “She liked to surround herself with things that reminded her of home.” A wane smile lifted the corner of his mouth as he added, “I’ll have to show you the little English rose garden we have out back. I insisted that the gardeners keep it up after she died because it reminded me of her.”

He blinked and frowned as it occurred to him, “I don’t know if they’re blooming yet or not.”

“You can still show me,” Luka encouraged, following Adrien over to the writing desk. “I’m sure that just listening to you describe it will be wonderful.”

“Flatterer,” Adrien snorted, brushing his fingers over the wood of the desk.

“Not at all,” Luka assured. “I’m just that smitten with you.”

Adrien hummed as he opened the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a small family portrait painted when Adrien was probably about ten.

The child in the picture was smiling and bright-eyed yet obviously trying to rein in his boundless energy in an attempt to appear regal.

Behind him was a beautiful blonde woman with clear, peridot eyes much like her son’s. She smiled sedately, and the action didn’t make it to her eyes.

Beside her was a scowling, taciturn man already starting to go grey despite his relative youth. He projected power and control, and he rested possessive hands on his son’s shoulder and at the small of his wife’s back, laying claim to them.

Luka could read the unhappiness of the family contained in the miniature portrait as clearly as if it had been written out for him.

“You were an adorable kid,” Luka remarked conversationally. “You favor your mother.”

“Oh? Yes…. Yes,” Adrien responded distractedly as Luka’s words pulled him out of his thoughts. “We’re a lot alike, actually.”

“How so?” Luka prompted gently, giving Adrien an opening if he wanted to talk.

“We have similar dispositions,” he elaborated. “Similar circumstances.”

Adrien stared down at his mother’s image, running a thumb over her painted face. “…Her father pretty much sold her. He was land-rich but cash-poor like a lot of the old, titled families. He had two daughters, and he’d already married my aunt to a wealthy merchant’s son who was looking to buy his way up in the world. My father met my mother at a party while he was abroad and promptly fell in love with her.”

Adrien chuckled bitterly, carefully setting the portrait back down into the drawer and closing it. “It was the only rash, idealistic thing he ever did in his life. He made my grandfather a generous offer, and that was that. It didn’t matter that she didn’t want to go, that she didn’t really care for my father. They packed up her things and shipped her off.”

He looked up and around the room, watching a hundred ghosts of his mother reenact memories tied to the space.

“…She was so miserable here,” he whispered sadly. “Father was cruel. The only way he knew how to express love was by exerting control and subjugating. She told me she thought about running away many, many times…but then she had me, and she told me I made it a little more bearable here.”

Luka stepped in, slipping his arms around Adrien from behind and giving his ear a comforting nuzzle.

“She’s a big reason why I knew I could never marry someone I didn’t love. I saw how it slowly choked the life out of her. I watched as my father killed her year by year….” Adrien turned in Luka’s arms, burrowing his face into his mate’s chest as he whispered tearfully, “I knew the same thing would happen to me if I let him marry me off.”

Luka squeezed tighter, pressing bolstering kisses to the shell of Adrien’s ear. “It’s okay, Little Prince,” he soothed. “Go ahead and cry. I’ve got you.”

Adrien’s fingers curled around the fabric of Luka’s tunic, gripping it to keep himself grounded as his heart broke for a mother who had felt trapped and hopeless.

Luka patiently served as a supportive presence for his husband, radiating comfort and acceptance as Adrien slowly recomposed himself.

“Thanks,” he whispered, pulling away with a sheepish smile.

Luka gave Adrien’s cheek an answering lick. “Any time.”

“I just get so upset when I think about how she must have felt…how easily I could have been in her position.” Adrien shuddered and shook his head. “Some of the women my father was considering for my wife… He made sure that they were firm, strong-willed…someone who could keep me under her thumb just like my father had.”

Luka leaned in, placing a solid kiss on Adrien’s forehead, and then carefully wiped away the tear tracks still lingering on Adrien’s face. “It’s okay, My Love…but you’re safe now, and your mother’s suffering is over.”

Adrien took a deep breath, shaking off morose thoughts. “Right. You’re right. Sorry. I feel ridiculous crying like this over every little thing.”

Luka shook his head slowly. “These aren’t little things. …You remind me of Juleka, actually. You’re both traumatized by the accumulation of your experiences, so it may feel like just a bunch of little things, but a lot of little things really add up in the long run. So don’t feel ridiculous. Like I said before, you’re facing your demons, and that’s an amazing thing.”

Adrien’s eyes went reflexively to a door at the far end of the room. “…This is nothing. The real demons are in there.”

Luka frowned, following Adrien’s gaze. “What’s in there?”

Adrien gulped. “The bathroom.”

Luka’s first inclination was to ask what was so frightening about a bathroom, but he held his tongue and was later glad that he had.

“The bathroom?” he echoed instead.

Adrien nodded, cautiously beginning to approach as if he were sneaking up on a sleeping dragon. He took the doorknob in a shaking hand and held it, frozen there, for a long beat.

Luka rested a hand on Adrien’s shoulder in solidarity. “If it’s too much, we don’t have to do this now. Just coming in here after not being able to for six years is quite the accomplishment.”

Adrien shook his head. “I’m not going to be able to sleep in this room tonight if I don’t open this door. I’ll have nightmares. I need…” He gulped. “I need to know that she’s not in there.”

Luka nodded despite not quite understanding. He placed his other hand on top of Adrien’s on the doorknob. “Want to turn it together?”

“…Okay,” Adrien agreed in a small, scared voice, just on the edge of tears.

“On three,” Luka instructed and then slowly counted down.

**The door opened** **, and Adrien’s knees nearly gave out on him, making him stumble, leaning on Luka for support.**

His mother lay in the overflowing bathtub, her hair and dress billowing out around her reminiscent of Millais’s [Ophelia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophelia_\(painting\)). Tendrils of blood snaked through the water spilling out onto the floor and soaking Adrien’s shoes.

**Luka turned on the bathroom light** **, and it all disappeared.**

“See?” Luka coaxed as he half held Adrien up. “No one’s there.”

Luka winced as he saw how translucent Adrien’s complexion had gone. “…You doing okay, Little Prince?”

Adrien shook his head, swallowing a few times before he was able to articulate, “This is where I found her.”

Luka arched an eyebrow. “You…found her?”

Adrien nodded. “The chamber door was locked, so I used one of the passageways. I heard the water running, and I called out to her, but she didn’t respond…. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time. My memories are so blurry after I opened the door and saw her,” he admitted. “I think I thought she was sleeping or sick or something, so I went to the door and unlocked it and called for the guards. Nathalie was out in the hallway, and she came and saw and had one of the guards take me to my room. Later, Nathalie came and told me Maman had drowned.”

Luka’s eyes went wide in horror, and his stomach flipped as he realized that Adrien had been the one to find his mother dead. He had to choke back the bile that rose up in his throat. He felt absolutely ill.

“Oh, Adrien,” Luka gasped, pulling him into a crushing hug. “How could those nitwits make you sleep in here? And for what? To keep up some semblance of propriety? They should have just let us have guestrooms. This is unforgiveable. How could they make you come back here?”

“It’s okay,” Adrien protested without strength, melting into Luka’s arms.

“It’s _not_ ,” Luka growled, already plotting the pranks he would play on Damocles, Raincomprix, and Bourgeois throughout the remainder of their stay at the palace.

“It will be okay,” Adrien rephrased, turning his head to look once more at the empty bathtub. “I had to get over this sooner or later, didn’t I?”

Luka couldn’t form words to express the sentiment that he didn’t think Adrien would ever truly be over something like that.

“Come on,” he whispered, tugging Adrien gently out into the main room, turning off the bathroom light, and closing the door. “We’re done here, right? You saw that she’s not in there?”

Adrien nodded weakly.

“Okay. Good,” Luka sighed, guiding his mate over to the banquette seating by the windows lining the circular turret.

Adrien didn’t protest as Luka pulled Adrien down to sit between his legs and wrapped his arms tightly around Adrien from behind.

It felt good to be supported and protected as Adrien’s body struggled to recover from the intense stress.

“…You don’t need to worry. I really am fine,” Adrien whispered several minutes later when he was finally feeling calmer.

Luka scoffed softly into Adrien’s neck. “ _I’m_ not fine.”

Adrien lifted his head, twisting to get a look at Luka’s expression. “What’s wrong?”

Luka shook his head.

Adrien got up to sit on the banquette beside his husband, taking Luka’s face in his hands. “Hey. Talk to me. Please? What’s wrong?”

Luka met Adrien’s gaze forlornly. “It’s pointless wishing I could change things that are long past, but…if I could, I’d do anything to save you from some of the pain you’ve suffered.”

“That’s sweet, but I’m really okay,” Adrien assured, rubbing his thumb back and forth along Luka’s cheekbone. “Don’t get upset on my account.”

“But there are so many things…” Luka bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about how to get across what he was feeling. “…I thought I’d understood what your life here was like from what you’d told me when you used to come to our clearing and vent about what your father had done to upset you that particular time…. Adrien, today I’m seeing how little I understood, and it grieves me deeply.”

Adrien averted his gaze, dropping his hands to clasp Luka’s. “It was fine. I mean…I hadn’t known any different until I came to live with you. I just thought that that was how the world was, so there was no need to really talk about it. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you.”

“I know,” Luka reassured, giving Adrien’s hands a squeeze. “I didn’t mean to imply that. It’s just… Was there anything good about this place?”

“I was happy here sometimes.” Adrien looked up to meet Luka’s eyes. “I have happy childhood memories, and there were people who were very good to me. It wasn’t all bad,” he muttered defensively.

Luka nodded even though he wasn’t sure he fully believed Adrien.

“…I just missed my mother…and wished my father were capable of expressing love the way I’d seen other parents do…. And I thought I would never know what it was like to love someone so much it burned inside of me and for them to love me in return just as fiercely,” Adrien admitted. “But there were still good things. Nathalie isn’t a very expressive woman, but she loves me. Nino and Marinette are the truest friends I could ever ask for. I enjoyed some of my lessons…. There were good things,” he assured sedately.

Luka leaned in, pressing an airy kiss to Adrien’s temple. “Of course there were. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that your life before me was all bad or anything. I just…today has been eye-opening. That’s all. Just when I think I know you, you go and surprise me. It’s not a bad thing to have layers. I’m just…”

“Processing?” Adrien supplied, and Luka nodded, glad that his mate was following him.

“Definitely,” Luka agreed. “Processing.”

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah. Today’s been a lot for me. I didn’t even stop to think that maybe it’s been a lot for you too.”

“I’m glad I’m here, though,” Luka hastened to assure. “I’m glad I’m with you, that we’re here together.”

“Like I said before,” Adrien chuckled, “I’m so grateful not to be on my own. I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Oh, you’d make it,” Luka snorted, giving Adrien’s cheek a bolstering lick. “I believe in my Little Prince.”

“At least one of us does,” Adrien snickered, leaning in for a quick kiss. “Come here. I want to show you something good about this place. I think you’ll like it.”

“Oh?” Luka arched an eyebrow in interest as Adrien took him by the hands and pulled him to his feet, leading him across the room to the harpsichord halfway between the bed and the door out to the hall.

“ _Oooh_ ,” Luka purred, pleased with the prospects that the instrument offered. “Am I finally going to get to hear my talented spouse’s true musical abilities?”

“If this thing is in tune,” Adrien chuckled, pulling out the bench and taking a seat, motioning for Luka to sit down beside him. “They’re supposed to keep it in tune as part of the general maintenance cleaning, but I don’t know if they’ve bothered since I haven’t been here to pester anyone about whether or not it’s been done.”

Adrien pressed his fingers to the keys, playing a simple D major chord. He nodded in satisfaction as the picks inside of the instrument plucked the strings and the notes sounded true.

“Looks like we’re in business,” Luka hummed in pleasure. “What are you going to play for me?”

Adrien folded his lips back over his teeth in thought as he warmed up with a series of scales and arpeggios. “Don’t laugh when I fail miserably. I’m completely out of practice, but…this is a song my mother and I used to play. It won’t sound right, since it’s supposed to be played by two people with four hands, but…”

He shrugged and started to play the first minute or so of Mozart’s [Harpsichord Sonata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpzHh015AQ) in D Major, K.381.

Luka closed his eyes and listened as Adrien’s fingers fluttered up and down the keyboard.

“You’re not out of practice at all,” he snorted. “Unless you were truly phenomenal before, anyway.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, elbowing Luka in the arm. “Do you even know what the song is supposed to sound like? I’m missing notes all over the place, and I’m completely off tempo.”

Luka clicked his tongue. “Not at all. Maybe a few finger flubs here and there, but it’s still very pretty. I like your harpsichord playing.”

“Maman was better,” Adrien whispered, fingers going still.

Luka opened his eyes and turned to find silent tears parading slowly down Adrien’s cheeks. He wiped them away and replaced them with a kiss. “Maybe I should learn to play harpsichord. Would it be good to have someone to play the pieces you used to play with your mother with, or would that just make you sad?”

Adrien bit his bottom lip, chewing on it in thought. “I think I would like that…. Someday, I want to play the songs I played with Maman with our children. It would be really nice to share them with you in the meantime.”

He turned to Luka with a timid smile and was rewarded with an enthusiastic kiss from his husband.

“I _really_ like the sound of that.” Luka could barely contain a face-splitting grin at the thought of their future family together.

“Good to know we’re on the same page,” Adrien chuckled, smile growing wider. “…Shall I play something else?”

“If you’re feeling up to it,” Luka encouraged. “I could listen to you play for hours, honestly.”

Adrien nodded, fingers beginning to flow over the keys once more. “This is one my father makes me play all the time, but I still like it.”

He played Bach’s [Prelude and Fugue in G Major](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Pmr8wa4vw) first and then followed it with a few more short pieces. Eventually, his fingers slowed to a stop, and he lowered his hands back down into his lap.

“All done?” Luka inquired, reaching up to play with Adrien’s hair.

Adrien nodded. “For tonight, anyway…. This was nice. I used to hate when my father made me practice, but…I did miss this.”

“It sounded lovely. Thank you for sharing that with me.” He leaned in to nuzzle Adrien’s ear.

Adrien closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the attention.

After a minute or so, he spoke up, bringing himself back to reality: “…I should probably go and visit my parents in the mausoleum…pay my respects.”

He grimaced at the thought.

Luka shook his head. “I think you’ve done enough emotionally taxing things for one day. We’ll go first thing in the morning. For now, you should go to sleep and rest up.”

Adrien contemplated protesting out of a sense of duty but ultimately decided against it. “Okay. First thing in the morning, but only because I am completely drained, and I don’t think I can bear to face them right now.”

“They’ll understand,” Luka assured, taking Adrien’s hand and giving it a bolstering squeeze. “Go back through the passage into the King’s chambers and make a show of leaving and coming in here so that we don’t scandalize any servants. I’ll wait here for you.”

“You’re the best,” Adrien chuckled, giving his husband a kiss before getting up to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go. What did you think? This chapter was actually a huge struggle to get written. ^.^; I don't know why. I knew what I wanted to write, but it just took a ghastly long time to get it all written out. I was stuck on this chapter for a full month. I think it turned out really well, though. I'm very fond of a lot of the descriptions in this chapter. Were there any in particular that you liked?
> 
> So, the link to the harpsichord piece for four hands in the story is so that you can hear what a harpsichord sounds like. [Here's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acNAwxv1Il8) a link to a piano version of the same piece where you can actually see the performers' hands. I always find four-handed pieces to be fascinating to watch due to the sheer finger-gymnastics the performers have to execute to reach around one another and coordinate to play all the notes.
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought because I worked really hard on this chapter. XD Take care everyone. I'll see you again on Sunday, 02/28/2021.
> 
> References:  
> Queerplatonic: https://mogai.fandom.com/wiki/Queerplatonic  
> Victorian Style: https://www.google.com/search?q=victorian+style+furniture&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS779US779&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5o6-V96vuAhXSKs0KHV_iCR0Q_AUoAnoECBsQBA&cshid=1611194584885769&biw=1366&bih=625  
> Second Empire Style: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III_style  
> Ophelia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophelia_(painting)  
> Mozart K381 (harpsichord): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpzHh015AQ  
> Bach Prelude and Fugue in G Major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Pmr8wa4vw  
> Mozart K381 (piano): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acNAwxv1Il8


	10. Sustaining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka scares the guards and spooks the horses.  
> Adrien and Plagg are reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. I hope you've had a good week. Thank you for joining me for Chapter Ten. ^.^
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Warning for brief, mild, implied sexual content at the beginning of the chapter.

The bath in the King’s chambers was as big as a hot tub, and Luka delighted in using it to soak as they prepared for bed that evening. He’d been feeling dehydrated all day, and it was nice to finally be able to submerge and reconnect with his source of power.

It was even better when he finally seduced Adrien into joining him.

Adrien purred contentedly as he slumped forward, half-collapsing onto Luka’s chest, finally looking relaxed.

Luka whinnied happily, satisfied that his work was done. “Told you a nice hot bath would be good stress relief.”

“I don’t think it’s the bath,” Adrien snorted. “…My father is out there rolling in his grave. He can probably sense that his bathtub has been defiled.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “Your father is a buzzkill. Besides, it’s _your_ bathtub now, and you can do with it as you see fit. …Is there anything else around here you want to defile?” he asked hopefully and then began to list attractive possibilities. “Tables? Desks? Chairs? Walls? I’m game if you are.”

He could feel Adrien’s lips pulling into a wide smirk against his bare chest.

“Your stamina is far more impressive than mine,” Adrien snickered. “It’s a wonder I don’t bore you.”

Luka clicked his tongue. “Never. You’re the only one I’m interested in.”

Adrien hummed softly, the vibrations buzzing pleasantly against Luka’s skin.

“You’re overthinking things,” Luka observed in displeasure. “Stop that. Did I not tire you out enough? How do you still have energy left for overthinking? Don’t make me feel like my abilities to exhaust you are being called into question; I can and will prove myself,” he teased with the most serious expression and tone of voice he could manage.

Adrien broke out laughing, raising his head to beam adoringly at his husband.

“Thank you,” he whispered, leaning in to press a feather-light kiss to the tip of Luka’s nose.

“For what?” Luka chuckled breathily.

“For always knowing what I need and when I need it, even when I don’t know myself. I feel so incredibly lucky to have you supporting me,” he confessed, completely humbled by Luka’s dedication to him.

“This is what partnership is about,” Luka explained gently with a shrug. “You’ll be there for me one day when I’m falling to pieces, and then it won’t feel so one-sided. We’ll face plenty of trials as a couple where you have to be the levelheaded one making sure I don’t come apart at the seams. You’ll see.”

“I hope I’m up to the challenge,” Adrien chuckled doubtfully. “Until then, thank you.”

Luka rolled his eyes and reached up to tussle Adrien’s damp hair. “Oh, Little Prince…you have so little faith in yourself…meanwhile, you take the problems of an entire kingdom on your shoulders like it’s a matter of course…no big deal.”

Adrien shrugged helplessly, wearing a sheepish smile.

Luka clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Come on. Right now, the thing you need more than anything is sleep. Time for bed, My Little King.”

Luka waited until Adrien’s breathing evened out and he was sure that Adrien was buried deep in the sands of sleep.

Then, he carefully extracted himself from Adrien’s embrace, missing his mate’s warmth immediately, and soundlessly slipped out of bed, liquifying and flowing through the pipes to the King’s chamber where he was _supposed_ to be sleeping.

He reformed into a humanoid shape and went out into the hallway, attracting the attention of the guards keeping watch outside of the royal apartments.

They collectively jumped when they saw Luka, hands going to their blades. One of them actually drew out his knife, and they were all trembling to some degree or another.

Luka put up his hands in a show of nonaggression. “Relax, gentlemen. I don’t eat humans.”

He held in an impish “anymore”, reasoning that it wouldn’t serve him or Adrien in the long run to terrify Adrien’s subjects, the guards who were supposed to protect his mate, no matter how much fun Luka would have doing so.

In truth, Luka had never eaten humans in the first place. He’d considered it on several occasions, but he’d never followed through on the urge.

He had killed before. He’d killed the men who had captured and tortured his sister, but he hadn’t even thought about eating them. That would have been too good for scum like those men. Instead, he’d left their bodies exposed out in the elements for nature or the local wildlife to do with as they pleased.

“I don’t mean you any harm,” Luka tried to convince the guards, giving them a disarming smile.

They didn’t seem to believe him, as they continued to quake.

Luka took a step back, keeping his hands up where they could see them.

“D-Did you need something…uh…My Lord?” one of the younger guards hazarded, visibly hoping that Luka would say no and go away.

“Yes, please,” Luka disappointed them. “Could you go and get His Majesty’s guard, Nino, for me, please?”

The young guard was off practically running with a, “Yes, My Lord. Right away, My Lord”, obviously glad to have an excuse to flee.

Luka didn’t blame him. He too would be uneasy if he were trapped in that relatively narrow corridor after dark with a deadly creature he suspected of bewitching his hereditary ruler.

The remaining two men looked painfully uncomfortable with Luka’s presence, so Luka mercifully ducked back inside of the King’s chambers, asking them to please have Nino knock at his door whenever he arrived.

Surprisingly, the wait only lasted five minutes. Either the guards’ quarters in general were close, the guard Luka sent had broken land speed records, or Nino had deliberately been given a room close to the royal residences in order to be near Adrien.

“You summoned me, Lu—er…My Lord?” Nino stammered in confusion when Luka opened the door.

“Luc is fine,” Luka assured, coming back out into the hall (and making the three guards jump and reach for their weapons all over again) and heading for the door to the Queen’s chambers. “I need you to sit with Adrien for an hour or so.”

Nino quirked an eyebrow but obediently followed Luka into the room where Adrien was still sound asleep, twisted up in the blankets and illuminated by moonlight pouring in through the windows.

“He’s anxious being back here,” Luka explained. “Understandably so, I think.”

Nino gave a soft snort, following Luka deeper into the room. “Understatement.”

Luka grabbed one of the armchairs from the sitting area and moved it to the beside, motioning for Nino to sit as Luka whispered, “Adrien’s been eating fairy food all this time, not thinking he’d ever have to come back here, and once mortals eat our food, _their_ food seems practically inedible by comparison.”

Nino’s eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between Adrien and Luka as he took a seat. “Then how did Adrien eat dinner?”

Luka winced. “It was painful to watch, honestly. We were so caught off guard when we learned of his father’s death, and we set out so quickly that we didn’t stop and take practical matters into account. So, now, I need to head back and make arrangements for suitable food to be brought for him.”

Nino nodded in understanding. “And you need me to sit with him while you’re gone in case he wakes up and freaks?”

“Precisely. Will you?” Luka entreated. “I’m sorry. I should only be gone an hour maximum.”

Nino snorted, almost offended by how little Luka thought of Nino’s devotion to Adrien. “Please. Like you even had to ask. I would take a sword to the gut for this guy. I loved him before you even knew he existed. Of course I’ll sit here and watch him sleep to make sure he’s okay while you’re gone.”

“Platonically?” Luka teased, but Nino gave him a serious look that pierced through the joviality.

“Absolutely. Because that’s what he needs from me.”

Luka’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t help but be impressed by Nino. He wondered if _he_ could make himself love Adrien platonically if that was what Adrien needed from him. He didn’t think he could.

“You’re very selfless,” Luka observed.

Nino shrugged. “Some things are more important than the self.”

Luka nodded slowly. “…You wouldn’t be opposed to a fae mate, would you?”

Nino blinked, baffled by this abrupt change of subject. “Sorry. What?”

“A fae husband or…” Luka frowned, searching his memories. “Sorry. I don’t know what the female equivalent of a husband is. I don’t think Adrien has ever told me the word.”

“Wife,” Nino supplied. “Or ‘spouse’ is non-gender-specific.”

Luka nodded his thanks for the information and tried again. “Would you be opposed to a fae spouse?”

Nino shrugged, not seeing the relevance. “No. I’m not exactly picky about species so long as they’re humanoid like you.”

Luka took this piece of information into account as he announced, “I’ve taken a liking to you, and I’m going to find you a mate.”

Nino’s jaw dropped. “Oh. Wow. What? I…you don’t have to do that.”

“It’s partially self-serving,” Luka confessed, “to ensure that your relationship with my mate remains completely platonic.”

Even in the diminished light of the chamber, Luka could see Nino’s face flush in embarrassment as he spluttered, “I don’t—That’s not—It’s not like that. It’s already completely platonic. I don’t have a death wish.”

“Shh,” Luka snickered. “You can look, but don’t touch while I’m gone. Unless he wakes up and needs to be snuggled. I should be back within an hour.”

Nino kept choking on words as Luka made his exit back out into the hall.

The trio of guards didn’t jump quite so high that time, but they all tensed, and their hands still instinctively went to their blades.

“I’m really not going to hurt you,” Luka sighed, shaking his head as he made a show of entering the King’s chambers so he didn’t scandalize the poor guards on top of terrifying them.

Once inside, he liquified and made his escape to the outdoors through the tiny cracks below the windows. From there, he took on his horse form and sped home to the enchanted forest at full gallop.

Adrien slowly blinked his eyes open, squinting against the dim, rosy light of the dawn peering in through the windows.

They’d forgotten to draw the curtains before bed, and now Adrien was up at an ungodly hour.

The inside of his nose felt crusty, and his skin was drying out. The air was too arid, devoid of moisture compared to the environment at the bottom of the lake to which he’d grown used.

On top of it all, the big bed was too cold, too spread out so that the warmth diffused. In their bed back home, it was roomy enough that they could sleep comfortably without being too cramped, but he could always feel the heat radiating off of Luka’s body. He could always sense his husband’s presence.

This bed was lonely. Here, it felt like Luka was just gone.

With a start, Adrien rolled over and sat up, panicking when he saw for certain that his mate was, indeed, gone, and Adrien was alone in the bed.

“Over here,” Luka called from where he sat at the harpsichord, puzzling over it, trying to unravel its mysteries.

When he saw Adrien’s terrified expression, he hastened to his feet, hurrying across the room to the bed and crawling over it to take Adrien’s face reassuringly in his hands.

“My Love, your face has gone as white as the feathers stuffing your pillows. What’s wrong?” he cooed.

Adrien surged forward, wrapping his arms around Luka tight enough to bruise. “…They got rid of the feather pillows and blankets when I was born,” he replied in a shaking voice. “I’m allergic to feathers.”

Luka wanted to pull back to arch an eyebrow and give Adrien an inquisitive look, but he didn’t dare try to put space between them when Adrien was holding him so fiercely and trembling like a baby mouse left out in the snow.

“You never told me you were allergic to feathers,” he hummed soothingly, starting to trace circles between Adrien’s shoulder blades with his palm.

“It never came up,” Adrien chuckled, putting on a brave face and trying to counterfeit levity. “You’re not close friends with any bird-type fae, are you?”

“I can’t think of anyone important to me with feathers,” Luka assured, content to stay in the embrace until Adrien calmed down enough to disengage of his own volition.

“Good,” he laughed, still not sounding very convincing as far as joviality went.

They stayed like that a handful of minutes more until finally Adrien pulled back, eyes downcast at the rumpled sheets and cheeks once more colorful with blush.

“Sorry,” he muttered ashamedly. “I thought you were gone and had a bit of a panic attack. Just a little one. I’m fine.”

Luka tipped Adrien’s chin up and leaned forward to give his lips a sweet peck. “It’s okay. I’m sorry, but—in the interest of not keeping secrets—I _did_ leave during the night.”

Adrien’s eyes flew open, and his jaw descended several centimeters. “You what?”

“I had them bring Nino to sit in here with you in case you woke up,” Luka confessed, crawling across the bed to grab a fruit something like a mix between an apple and a plum as well as an oddly textured croissant off of the night table.

He presented them to his mate, explaining, “I couldn’t let you go hungry. Watching you force yourself to eat dinner last night was emotional torture for me.”

Adrien’s eyes and mouth all rounded into oblong “O”s. “Is that…?”

Luka nodded, handing over the food and smiling in satisfaction as Adrien devoured it with relish. “I arranged for Alya’s mother to prepare meals for you and send them with Alya three times a day for as long as we’re here. She’ll ask for Nino at the gate, and he’ll escort her. We can tell anyone who asks that the food is for me.”

Adrien quirked an eyebrow at that, asking through a mouthful of bread, “Why do we need to lie? We could just explain.”

Luka’s expression darkened as he remembered the fear of the guards in the corridor hours previously. “I’d rather not give them any excuse to question your humanity.”

Adrien swallowed hard, feeling a psychological chill in addition to the physical one.

“I can see some people being unsettled by the way the fae world has changed you,” Luka tried to voice his concerns honestly while simultaneously attempting not to scare Adrien needlessly. “People fear things that are different, things that they don’t understand, and some people even lash out violently. I don’t want to give them any reason to think of you as ‘different’.”

Slowly, Adrien began to nod. “…I hadn’t…even thought about that kind of thing.”

“No,” Luka agreed with a warm, affectionate smile, reaching out to run his fingertips up and down Adrien’s arm. “You were too busy worrying about your people and protecting them from any dictators who might rise up in your absence because you are an amazing, purely unselfish human being, and that’s part of why I adore you so ardently.”

A devilish smirk twisted across Adrien’s lips as he scooted in closer to his husband. “ _How_ ardently do you adore me? Remind me again?”

“At least this much,” Luka snickered, eagerly taking Adrien’s invitation for a kiss.

“Most servants get up ridiculously early,” Adrien informed as they made their way towards the stables while many of the rest of the castle’s titled inhabitants still lay dreaming in their beds. “But there shouldn’t be too many people in the stables yet, so we should have some privacy.”

“So that the people don’t see their future king sobbing hysterically over a horse?” Luka snickered, giving Adrien’s hand a squeeze to highlight that he was joking around.

“I’m already the king, even though I haven’t had my official coronation yet,” Adrien informed indignantly, returning the squeeze. “We believe in instantaneous succession around here. [‘The king is dead; long live the king’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_king_is_dead,_long_live_the_king!) and all that…and I love Plagg almost more than I love Nino, so I’m really freaking excited to see this horse. He’s kind of a big deal, and he knows it.”

Luka smiled indulgently at his husband. “I’m going to make fun of you.”

Adrien clicked his tongue, reaching for the stable doorhandle and giving it a solid tug. “Won’t be the last time.”

There were many different stable buildings housing numerous horses for the use of nobles, knights, and castle guards. There were workhorses and hunting horses and riding horses suitable for everyone ranging from the most inexperienced child to the most skillful rider, but in this particular section, there were only nineteen horses.

The majority snapped to attention when the stable door opened, their ears standing straight up and pivoting.

When Adrien stepped inside, a trill of excitement shot through the horses, and overjoyed cries of “The prince!” and “Our Adrien is back!” filled the room as the horses danced in celebration in their stalls.

Adrien only had eyes for one horse, though: a black stallion with irises so vibrantly green they looked almost unreal.

“Plagg,” Adrien gasped, already getting choked up just upon seeing his old friend. “Plagg!”

He ran to Plagg’s stall, nearly stumbling as he rushed inside, throwing his arms around Plagg’s muscular neck.

Luka followed leisurely after his mate, letting Plagg and Adrien have a moment.

The horses immediately tensed as they caught whiffs of Luka’s scent and began to feel his peculiar, not-quite-right aura.

“Fae!” a blue roan whose nameplate read “Duusu” brayed.

“Danger!” a Friesian named Longg declared as the others began to fidget nervously in their confinement. “He’s going to hurt our prince!”

“I promise I’m not,” Luka attempted to defend himself, putting his hands up in a show of nonaggression even as he mentally noted that he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “I’m his _mate_.”

Luka called out to his husband, “Adrien, please tell your friends that I’m not going to eat you or anything.”

Adrien poked his head out of Plagg’s stall in confusion, completely oblivious to everything that wasn’t his own personal horse. “Say what now?”

Luka sighed. “Please assure the horses that I’m a friend. They’re unnerved at having one of the fair folk among them, and they think I have evil designs on you. Longg over there is about ready to break out and do battle with me to defend you.”

Adrien blinked. “Can you understand them?”

Luka shrugged, shoulders scrunching up around his ears uncomfortably. “It’s kind of like how if you can speak Spanish, you can kind of get the gist of Portuguese or Italian due to the similarities…but then there are some words that are really different and leave you scratching your head, wondering what business that guy had with a rubber duck because you _can’t_ have heard him right.”

Adrien continued to blink. “So you _can_ understand them.”

Luka bit his lip. “Somewhat? I think ‘Camembert’ means something different in horse than it does in kelpie because I don’t imagine you feed Plagg cheese.”

“It’s his favourite,” Adrien giggled, taking Luka by the arm and leading him to the center of the stable to address all of the inhabitants at once.

“Everyone!” he called out in glee. “I’m so happy to see you again, and I’m glad you’re all doing well. This is my mate, Luc. I hope you’ll make him feel welcome, please. He’s family now.”

The horses hemmed and hawed for a bit before seeming to settle down and accept this new piece of information. Longg, though, looked particularly put out.

As the excitement died down, Adrien slipped back into Plagg’s stall and recommenced hugging his steed.

“I missed you so much,” Adrien choked. “I was half afraid father had gotten rid of you.”

“He missed you too,” Luka translated. “Though, Nino and Kagami have been taking him out fairly frequently. Sometimes Marinette and Tikki join in on the rides.”

“Good,” Adrien breathed in relief. “I feel better now. My biggest regret in leaving like I did was not knowing if Plagg were being treated right.”

“Your friends took care of him,” Luka assured. “He’s been happy, even though it’s been hard being away from you.”

Adrien pulled out of the hug to look Plagg in the eye. “I’m really glad you’re happy, Plagg. I’ve been living happily too.” He nodded towards Luka. “This is the Orpheus guy I used to talk to you ceaselessly about.”

Plagg gave a snort, remembering the long hours he’d listened to Adrien rant and rave and whine about his Orpheus.

“He loves me too,” Adrien chuckled conspiratorially. “He’s my mate now.”

Plagg snorted again, giving an exaggerated toss of his head. “Finally. It took you long enough.”

“Nice to meet you, Plagg. I’m Luc,” Luka introduced himself, holding out a flat palm for Plagg to sniff. “Thank you for taking care of Adrien all these years. You’ve been a good friend to him.”

Finding no slice of Camembert on Luka’s palm, Plagg turned his head away in a show of being offended. “You’d better be grateful. I’ve spent years of my life listening to him, and it wasn’t an easy job.”

Adrien looked to his husband as Luka laughed. “What did he say?”

Luka rolled his eyes. “He loves you like a child, but he’s pretending like he can’t be bothered to have emotions.”

It was Adrien’s turn to snort and give Plagg’s forehead a fond pet. “That’s Plagg, all right. Heart of gold wrapped in a Camembert exterior.”

“He loves you very much,” Luka assured.

“I didn’t say that,” Plagg grumbled.

“No, but you feel it,” Luka countered, and Plagg’s protests fell silent as he stretched out his neck to rub his muzzle against Adrien’s cheek.

“He’s the best horse,” Adrien hummed contentedly, returning the nuzzle.

“Yeah,” Luka agreed. “Very handsome too. You suit one another.”

“We do, don’t we?” Adrien laughed, resting his head against Plagg’s.

The stable fell into a comfortable silence as Plagg and Adrien soaked up one another’s presence.

“…I didn’t know horses could have eyes that green,” Luka observed when the conversation seemed to stagnate.

“I always thought he was an enchanted spirit in the form of a horse,” Adrien confessed. “I’d never seen a horse with eyes like this either…but now I’m guessing you’re going to tell me that my horse is really just a horse?” Adrien smiled sheepishly.

Luka pretended to consider Plagg intently. “Hmm…I don’t know. Any horse with a craving for Camembert that strong can’t be strictly normal. There may be something whimsical about your horse after all. He’s certainly special.”

“Very special,” Adrien snickered.

“Hey,” Plagg grumbled.

“…You really do love horses a lot, don’t you?” Luka observed. “I mean, I knew you did from hearing you talk about them, but…seeing you clinging to Plagg so happily…you really do love him almost more than you love Nino, don’t you?”

Adrien pressed a palm over his mouth to keep from cracking up. “Don’t tell Nino.”

Luka mimed zipping his lips and changed topics. “…So, did you ever have a crush on a horse before? Anyone I need to be jealous of?”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “My love of horses has never been romantic or sexual in nature.”

“Really?” Luka teased, pressing, “You never in your wildest dreams imagined you’d end up married to a horse?”

Adrien half-heartedly gave his husband a slap on the arm. “You’re not a _real_ horse. Everyone here could sense it. I’m only into kelpies.”

“Fair enough,” Luka conceded, putting up his hands in surrender.

Adrien opened his mouth to say something else but abruptly cut himself off, his face going ashen as he gasped, “Nooroo”.

He hurried out of Plagg’s stall and dashed down a few until he got to a white-grey horse whose nameplate read “Nooroo”.

“Hey, boy,” Adrien called gently, letting himself into the stall and petting Nooroo’s flank softly. “Did anyone tell you about Father?”

“Master?” Nooroo inquired hopefully, cocking his head to the side.

Luka shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, but your master has passed away,” he broke the news as gently as he could.

Nooroo seemed to shrink at the announcement, and he went very quiet as he leaned into Adrien’s touch, trying to take comfort in the contact.

Luka stepped forward and tentatively began to stroke Nooroo, letting the horse know that he wasn’t alone.

Adrien buried his face in Nooroo’s mane and kept petting. “…Maybe we could take Plagg and Nooroo out occasionally while we’re at the palace,” he suggested. “If Nooroo doesn’t mind. I think some exercise and fresh air will do him some good.”

“I’d be okay with that,” Luka agreed for the horse’s sake.

Luka hadn’t gotten a good impression of King Gabriel from what Adrien had told him, but it was obvious that Nooroo had been very attached to his owner and was in need of support in his grief.

“If Nooroo doesn’t mind,” Luka added, putting the ball in Nooroo’s court.

“I might like that,” Nooroo answered through exhaustion, looking up at Luka expectantly. “Are you my new master?”

Luka shook his head. “I’m your new friend.”

Nooroo thought about this for a long moment. “…I might like that,” he decided.

They stayed with Nooroo a while longer until the horse seemed to regain his composure, and then they visited with the other horses for a good half hour so that Adrien could catch up with them and gain the courage he needed to go face his parents at the mausoleum.

Eventually, Adrien determined that it was time to go pay his respects.

“Are you ready?” Luka inquired gently, slipping his hand into Adrien’s as they walked through the gardens on their way to the tomb.

Adrien shook his head and squeezed Luka’s hand reflexively. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be. Don’t make fun of me if I’m a mess.”

“I would never,” Luka promised.

“You made fun of me about Plagg,” Adrien reminded with an anemic smile, cocking an eyebrow.

Luka rolled his eyes. “That was you being a mushy crybaby over a reunion with an old friend. I’m allowed to tease you for being adorable…. This is serious, and I would never tease you about something like that.”

Adrien breathed out a long exhale. “Right. Sorry. I know that. I’m just…” He stopped in front of the door to the crypt. “…about to face the stony-faced disapproval and disappointment of my parents, and there’s no way they can hug and reassure me that they love me and would have been perfectly accepting of my marrying a male kelpie. So…it’s just me and the demons inside of my head and a tomb full of silence.”

“And a husband who loves you more than this world and who would fight with you through anything,” Luka corrected, increasing the pressure of his hand around Adrien’s.

Adrien turned to look at Luka in pure adoration. “I constantly find myself at a loss for words to describe how amazing you are and how grateful I am that you’re my partner in all this.”

Luka stepped in and skimmed his lips against Adrien’s forehead. “It’s all right,” he assured smugly. “I see how much you love me in your eyes, and I’d be perfectly happy if you expressed your gratitude with your lips rather than your words.”

Adrien closed the distance between them, for once not caring that anyone could walk by and see.

Luka hummed happily at the result as Adrien pulled away.

“You can do this, My Little King,” he encouraged. “I’m right here with you…so, let’s go introduce me to your parents.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was pretty fun to write. I felt bad for poor Luka being treated so hostilely by the guards. Writing the scene with Plagg and the other horses was fun, though. Did you have a favourite part?
> 
> Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment because I'd love to know what you thought. 
> 
> Take care, guys! I'll see you again on Sunday, 03/07/2021.
> 
> References:  
> Instantaneous Succession: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_king_is_dead,_long_live_the_king!


	11. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien faces his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me for the penultimate chapter. ^.^
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Come follow me on [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/) so that you can wish me a happy birthday on 03/10/2021. :P <3

The royal mausoleum was dim and a little dank; the solid stone walls and the flickering torches did little to keep out the dark chill of death.

Adrien led the way down into the crypt where the kings and queens of the past slept underneath the floor tiles and life-size statues in niches along the walls were the chief markers of which tenants rested where.

Luka found himself more than a little unsettled. He was just waiting for one of the statues to move, and he could swear he felt their eyes on him.

Adrien, however, made his way through the tomb seemingly unbothered by the images of his deceased forebearers. He also appeared to know exactly where he was going, quickly heading to the end of the row.

Luka guessed that Adrien had been to visit his mother many times over the years and was well accustomed to the place.

“Maman,” Adrien breathed, voice filled with emotion as he went up to the statue of a lovely young woman posed seated on a stone bench. She smiled tranquilly, her sightless eyes giving off a dreamy quality.

Adrien sank to his knees at her feet, placing his hand on top of her folded ones and resting his head in her lap.

“I missed you,” he whimpered. “It was so hard not even having a picture of you. I was afraid I was going to forget your face just like I’m forgetting your voice.”

Luka bit his lip, tempted to go kneel beside Adrien and wrap his arms around his mate to hold him together. At the same time, though, he didn’t want to interrupt the clearly personal moment.

Before Luka could decide, Adrien regained his composure and rose to his feet, turning his attention to the statue standing behind his mother’s with his hand possessively resting on her shoulder.

Luka had no trouble recognizing King Gabriel from the portrait Adrien had pulled out of the desk drawer in his mother’s room the night before. Surprisingly, Gabriel’s statue didn’t look new. It showed the same wear and weathering as his wife’s, indicating that the King had probably ordered the two made as a pair when the Queen had died.

“Father,” Adrien levelly addressed Gabriel’s imposing image as it scowled severely in judgment. “…I’m sorry that I didn’t say goodbye…. I’ve regretted that, but you made me feel trapped, so I didn’t think I had the option. I had to escape while I could without looking back. I hope you can at least appreciate the decisiveness of my actions.”

Predictably, Gabriel made no reply.

Adrien took a step back with a sigh, now addressing both parents as he continued, “I’m sorry that I was never really the son you’d hoped for. I’m sorry for all the disappointments.”

He then turned to look at Luka, holding out his hand for his husband to come take.

Luka swiftly answered the entreaty, coming to stand by his mate’s side, holding his hand as they presented a united front.

“I think you two always knew I wasn’t interested in women,” Adrien snorted softly. “Maybe you knew even before I did and that’s why you always said disparaging things about people who experience homosexual attraction. Maybe you thought it was some kind of choice I could un-make or an urge I could fight if I were strong enough…but it’s not.”

Luka inched in closer so that his shoulder pressed supportively against Adrien’s.

“I tried,” Adrien pleaded, his voice strained by building tears. “I tried really hard to be the son and heir you wanted. I just couldn’t make myself, quote-unquote, ‘normal’…and I’ve learned now in the past six months that that illusory ‘normal’ doesn’t exist. I don’t have to fix myself,” Adrien asserted, the tears leaving his voice to be replaced by strength and conviction.

“There’s nothing wrong with me that needs fixing. It’s okay to be gay. It’s actually something really beautiful and special…something that makes me me,” he tried to explain as a sad-but-daring-to-hope smile shyly tilted up the corners of his lips. “And I’ve found someone who loves and treasures me just the way I am.”

He nervously smiled at Luka before looking back to his parents’ statues. “Maman, Father…this is Luc…my husband.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesties,” Luka greeted, crossing his left arm over his chest and inclining forward into a slight bow, not really sure what the protocol was for meeting deceased royal in-laws.

“Maman, you would have loved him,” Adrien insisted excitedly, but then his expression sobered, and he amended, tempering his remark, “…at least…I’m sure you would have loved him if you could see past him being fae and married to your son.”

Luka squeezed Adrien’s hand, signaling that he was right there beside Adrien no matter what.

“I hope you would have eventually seen past all that,” Adrien added softly. “He takes good care of me, Maman. He’s a good person, and his love and support help me get a little closer to my full potential and being the person I want to be,” he testified, praying that his assurances would have been enough if she’d still been living.

“I have the kind of love you told me fairy stories about, Maman,” he informed her pleadingly. “Please don’t despise me just because I couldn’t find that kind of happiness with a mortal woman.”

Next, Adrien turned back to his father, a wry smile sliding into place on his lips as he chuckled, “Sometimes you did things that made me think, ‘See? He really does love me after all’. …I know you would never approve of this marriage,” he admitted with a melancholy shake of his head, “but there’s a part of me that hopes that my happiness with a fae man wouldn’t kill that little spark of affection you felt for me.”

With a tearful choke, Adrien retreated into Luka’s arms, burying his face in his mate’s chest. “I guess we’ll never know, though.”

Luka shook his head in disagreement, insisting, “They would have come around. Maybe they would have resented me for a while, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have approved of our union, but, after some time passed, they would see how happy we are together. They wouldn’t be able to begrudge a marriage that made their son happy.”

“I think you’re a bit too naïve, My Love,” Adrien sighed, but Luka’s assertions did make the tears stop. “My world can be cruel and uncaring.”

“Yes, but I refuse to believe that any parents who managed to produce a sweet, compassionate, loving person like you could reject their son because of who he loves,” Luka continued to fight Adrien’s assumptions.

“…Maybe.” Adrien finally allowed the possibility to germinated and take root in his mind. “Maybe they would come around after a while.”

“You’d win them over eventually,” Luka assured, squeezing his beloved tightly, happy to see Adrien through all the ups and downs that came with facing the demons of the life he’d left behind.

Once Adrien regained his composure and bade his goodbyes to his parents, they headed back to the Queen’s chambers where they found Alya and Nino waiting for them, making themselves comfortable in the sitting area of the room on the settee.

“Dri!” Alya trilled in delight when she saw him, scrambling to her feet and dashing across the room to envelope him in a hug that knocked the air out of his lungs.

“It’s good to see you, Alya,” Adrien chuckled as best as he could without the benefit of oxygen. “Thank you for coming.”

She pulled back so that she was at arms’ length, holding him by the biceps to study him better. “Sunshine, you never told me you were the crown prince of the Kingdom of Agreste!” she accused.

Adrien shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. “I mean…you knew I was a prince. I told you that.”

She rolled her hazel eyes and snorted impatiently. “Yeah, but you took _Luc_ for your mate—no offence.”

Luka smiled wryly, lifting and lowering his eyebrows in a manner that clearly stated that he was used to this kind of abuse and didn’t take it to heart.

“I thought you were the prince of some backwater, no-name kingdom,” Alya explained, “but here it turns out that you’re, like, _the_ prince!”

“Technically, he’s the king now,” Luka pointed out helpfully.

A blush of embarrassment sparked to life on Alya’s cheeks, and her lips rounded into an “O” as she remembered the whole reason Adrien had come to the palace in the first place.

“I’m really sorry about your father, by the way,” she offered sheepishly, suddenly feeling bad for the way she’d been gossiping just the day before about the news of King Gabriel’s death and what the kingdom was going to do what with their prince missing.

She remembered the way she’d caught wind of the Queen’s death six years prior and had spent a prodigious amount of time and energy feeding on the conspiracy theories surrounding it. All at once, she felt ill because she’d treated her dear friend’s tragedy as a form of entertainment.

“I’m really sorry, Dri,” she repeated it earnestly, knowing as she squeezed his arm in support that she could never make any of it up to him.

Adrien nodded, looking down at the floor as he whispered a tired, “Thank you.”

Luka and Nino were at his side at once, resting comforting hands on shoulders and giving his hair loving tussles.

A thin smile spread across Adrien’s lips, and he looked back up at Alya with a deep weariness in his eyes. “It’s been difficult, but I’m making it through somehow. Having Luc by my side has been a blessing.”

Alya nodded, feeling awkward and, for once, unsure of what to say.

“But let’s focus on happier things, shall we?” Adrien forced himself to smile wider, trying to inject an air of levity into the conversation. “Did you hear about the wedding and the coronation scheduled for this evening?”

Alya’s eyes lit up, and she latched onto the new topic with unfeigned enthusiasm. “Oh, yes! I was just pumping Nino for information when you came in. It sounds so exciting! The pomp and the ceremony and the big feast afterwards!” She gave a vulpine bark of delight. “I wish I could see it all for myself. I’ve always dreamed of human celebrations like this.”

“You can come,” Adrien informed with a shrug that suggested it was as nothing for him to make her wildest, most cherished dreams come true.

“ _Really_?” She almost stopped breathing.

Adrien nodded and shrugged again. “I’m king. If I say you can come, you can come, and if anyone has a problem with that, they can get over it because my word is literally law,” he assured, taking a heady pleasure in his newfound control. “…I mean, until I can foist the leadership of this kingdom upon someone else, but…”

“I would literally die of happiness,” Alya whined, near tears as she squirmed in excitement.

“Nino will have to chaperon you,” Adrien laid out the conditions.

“I can do that,” Nino gladly volunteered, looking forward to having more time to chat with the interesting fae woman.

“Just for safety,” Adrien explained. “My subjects can be a little…backward…when it comes to issues of embracing diversity. Some of them might be a bit uncomfortable if they knew you were a fox spirit, so I think it’s best if you stay close to Nino so he can help you out and keep you safe.”

“No complaints here!” Alya assured chipperly.

“And we’ll have to see about getting you a suitable dress for the event so that you fit in,” Adrien continued, voicing items of concern as they came to mind. “Nino, could you take her to see Marinette about that?”

Nino gave a snort, shaking his head as he grinned. “Marinette is going to kill you.”

Adrien waved away Nino’s assertion. “Marinette won’t kill me. Marinette loves me. She’s got at least twenty dresses just sitting around that she could make some quick adjustments to for Alya.”

“Marinette is going to kill you,” Luka snickered, imagining the seamstress’s face when Nino arrived with the request from the young king, her eyes bloodshot from working through the night on the coronation/wedding outfits. “She’s going to be livid.”

“It’ll be fine,” Adrien insisted, unconcerned. “I have faith in the supernatural abilities of my Royal Court Seamstress. There’s a reason she’s the youngest person ever to hold the title.”

“There will be shrieking,” Nino chuckled. “She’s going to take me by the shoulders and throttle me in your place.”

“You’ll survive,” Adrien promised with a wink, going over to where the decadent breakfast Alya had brought was spread out on the coffee table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m starving.”

“You’re going to be able to hear the shrieking all the way in town. People are going to think a demon has descended upon the land,” Nino muttered resignedly.

“They already think that about me,” Luka hummed as he followed Adrien over to the sitting area.

Alya arched an eyebrow in confusion. “How could they confuse you with an [oni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni)? Have they never seen one before? Don’t they have picture books? Didn’t you tell them you’re a kelpie?”

By the time Adrien and Luka returned from their morning out and sat down to breakfast, the rest of the castle inhabitants were starting to get up and move about, getting on with their day.

Nathalie soon appeared to give them their first briefing of the day, and then it was a flurry of servants and advisors coming in and out, checking about this, asking about that, all working together (or at odds with one another) to prepare for the day’s events.

It reminded Luka of watching his mother in action at a town hall where everyone gathered to make their concerns and desires known. It boggled Luka’s mind how many different decisions Adrien had to make, how many people’s concerns he had to deal with, all the orders there were to give.

Luka wondered if the daily life of a king was always like that or if it were just because of the last-minute nature of the wedding-slash-coronation.

Everyone seemed to be in a rush, and everyone was vying for Adrien’s time and attention.

“I hate you,” Marinette announced as she came in just after noon for a fitting.

“You love me,” Adrien corrected, encircling her in a warm hug.

“No, I really think I hate you,” Marinette snorted, even as she squeezed him back. “I love _Alya_ , however, so I’m definitely keeping her. I’m not so sure about you.”

“Were you able to find a dress that could be modified for her?” Adrien inquired as they pulled apart and Marinette went to the rack she had brought in to get the garments for Luka and Adrien to try on.

“Yes, I actually have a gorgeous orange dress that’s going to look ravishing on her. I did the measurements and marked it up for alterations. Manon’s working on it now,” Marinette informed.

“Nino’s going to faint when he sees her,” Luka hummed happily. He had been pleased with the chemistry between them that he had witnessed during breakfast, and he had high expectations for Alya in formalwear.

“Are you shipping them now?” Adrien snickered as he accepted the garment bag from Marinette.

“Nino is a good man; he deserves happiness, and I think Alya could be a good fit,” Luka replied with an innocent shrug, as if he weren’t actively scheming to get them together.

“I’m in favor of this pairing,” Marinette reported. “Nino’s been a mopey mess since you’ve been gone, leaving him with no one to moon over. If you’re going to be going back home to the fair folk before long, it would be nice if he had someone to take a romantic interest in so that he didn’t feel so lonely.”

“Yeah,” Adrien sighed, feeling guilty. “It would be nice if he had someone. I don’t want him to feel left out, especially now that both of us are going to have partners.”

“He’ll find the right person in time,” Marinette tried to assure with an encouraging smile. “Nino is a great guy; he’s bound to find love…so go on and try your suit out, and don’t worry so much about Nino.”

Adrien nodded, going behind the screen to change.

Luka nearly overheated when Adrien came out wearing [a three-piece suit](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548102217152763182/). The jacket was a long, royal blue tailcoat with striking silver embroidery tastefully done down the front of the jacket and around the sleeves. White pants and an ascot completed the look, and, as much as Luka loved his husband in his everyday clothes, Luka found that expensive clothing really suited Adrien.

“I think he’s speechless,” Adrien chuckled, running a hand through his hair, mussing it up. “Excellent job, Marinette.”

“I don’t know if I can really take the credit,” Marinette snickered. “My suit wouldn’t be half as stunning if you weren’t smoking hot.”

“True,” Adrien laughed, giving a spin to make the coattails fan out.

Luka gulped.

“All right.” Marinette gave Luka a clap on the back as she pushed a second garment bag into Luka’s arms. “Your turn, if you think you can walk.”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Luka cleared his throat and held the garment bag in front of himself to preserve his modesty as he slunk uncomfortably across the room to the changing screen.

His own outfit was nearly identical to Adrien’s saving for the colour scheme which was inversed. Luka’s jacket and vest were white while his pants, ascot, and the embroidery on his jacket were a beautiful blue to match Adrien.

“If you need help putting anything on, just ask,” Marinette called out helpfully. “I’ve dressed plenty of people in my line of work, so you won’t scandalize me or anything. Most nobles have people who dress them, so it’s really not a big deal.”

“I’m good, but thank you very much,” Luka assured as he fought a little with the innumerable buttons.

When he was content that he looked presentable, he stepped out from behind the screen and was more than satisfied with the effect his appearance had on his mate.

Adrien’s eyes dilated, and his mouth dropped open slightly as a hearty blush spread across the bridge of his nose from one cheek to the other.

Luka zeroed in on Adrien’s throat as he swallowed hard.

“Marinette, if you don’t mind, I think I need half an hour alone with my husband to discuss important marriage stuff,” Adrien informed as he strode across the room, grabbed Luka, and dipped him into a hungry kiss.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Marinette protested with an exasperated huff, watching futilely as Adrien pulled Luka back up only to escort him over to the bed (stealing breathy kisses the whole way) and push Luka down onto it.

“Adrien, I swear, if you harm so much as a button on those outfits, I will assassinate you myself,” she growled, lamenting the fact that she had done too good of a job making both grooms look incredibly handsome.

“I love you, Marinette, but get out,” Adrien hummed happily. “That’s an order.”

Stewing and clenching her fists and jaw, Marinette stormed towards the exit, threatening over her shoulder, “Don’t you dare rip his clothes off with your teeth, Adrien! I will _kill_ you. Take them off like civilized people and hang them up on the rack in their bags. _Then_ copulate like bunnies. I don’t care, but don’t you dare—”

Marinette nearly got hit by the door as Nathalie entered the room.

“—Oh! Lady Sancoeur! I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Marinette hastened to curtsy.

Adrien rolled off of Luka with a startled yelp, looking very much like a chastened schoolboy caught by his mother.

“…Am I interrupting?” Nathalie inquired blandly, her eyebrow arching upwards.

“Marinette was just making sure our clothes fit for the ceremony,” Adrien explained sheepishly.

Luka—who had been inoculated to this brand of embarrassment by being walked in on by or walking in himself on his mother, Rose, and Juleka—tried to stifle his laughter and an amused grin with varying degrees of success.

Adrien was adorable as he blushed and fidgeted nervously.

Luka leaned in and pressed a comforting kiss to his temple. “Everything seems to fit wonderfully, so we were just about to change back into our regular clothes until it gets closer to time for the ceremony,” Luka added to lend Adrien’s story credibility. “Marinette is truly amazing to have completed such a daunting task so quickly and so well. I’m extremely impressed.”

“Oh, well,” Marinette laughed bashfully, breaking out into a wide grin of pleasure at his lavish praises. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my team. I’m very lucky to work with many talented people I can trust implicitly.”

“And we’re very lucky to have you to lead them,” Nathalie added, nodding her approval (a rare commodity).

Then, Nathalie was back to business, getting to the point. “The rings have just arrived from the jeweler, and we need to make sure they fit and meet with your approval so that there’s enough time to make corrections, if there are issues.”

“Oh. Right,” Adrien responded as one coming out of a reverie. He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips as he got up and came over to inspect the rings which Nathalie had fished out of little satin bags.

“Sorry. I know we talked about getting rings for the ceremony this morning, but…” He nervously began to twist the ring Luka had made for him around his finger.

It didn’t feel right to replace it or even to take it off. His subjects might not consider the ceremony that Anarka had officiated at or the private rituals Luka and Adrien had exchanged in their room that first day they committed themselves to one another to be legitimate or legally binding, but _Adrien_ did.

The makeshift ring Luka had placed on Adrien’s finger that day _was_ a real wedding ring to him, and it felt wrong to renounce it like this.

Luka came up behind Adrien, wrapping his arms around him to give him a supportive squeeze. “It’s okay, My Love,” he assured, gingerly taking Adrien’s hand and slipping off the ring, moving it over to the ring finger of Adrien’s right hand. “It doesn’t really matter which finger it’s on, does it? Isn’t the important thing that _I_ put it there?”

Adrien hummed thoughtfully, studying the effect of this new placement.

“…Yeah,” he finally sighed, nodding decisively. “I guess you’re right, but this is only for the ceremony. Tonight, we’re switching them back. My _real_ wedding ring gets pride of place.”

“As you wish,” Luka easily agreed, letting Adrien switch Luka’s ring from his left hand to his right as well so that they could try on the new rings.

Luka reached out for the one that Nathalie indicated was Adrien’s but then stopped, looking uncertainly at the advisor. “I remembered to tell you about my iron allergy…right?”

Nathalie gave him the vaguest hint of a smile as she assured, “You did, and I triple checked with the jeweler, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Thank you.” Luka smiled nervously as he hesitantly picked up the ring, poking it with the tip of one finger first to test it before taking hold of it with confidence.

Both of the rings fit comfortably, and the fitting ended without incident.

Marinette finished inspecting both outfits and identified small details that could be improved while Nathalie gave the boys what felt like their dozenth briefing of the day.

Even after Nathalie and Marinette were both satisfied and left, that didn’t end the whirlwind of people coming in and out of the Queen’s chambers, needing Adrien’s approval or input on this or that.

Luka felt like he barely had time to breathe as the day quickly slipped away and, suddenly, it was time for the ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first, I was thinking of Prince Charming from Disney’s Cinderella or Prince Eric (in his formal costume) from Disney’s The Little Mermaid for the wedding garments. Like, a double breasted shirt/jacket with epaulets. But then I saw the outfit linked in the text and below in the References, and I thought, “Yeah. No. I like this better. We’re going with this”. So, suits it is. ^.^
> 
> Thanks for reading, guys. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you again on 03/14/2021. Take care, guys!
> 
> References:  
> Oni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni  
> Wedding Outfits: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548102217152763182/

**Author's Note:**

> Come follow me on [Tumblr](https://mikauzoran.tumblr.com/).


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